The City of Entertainment

Las Vegas, The City of Entertainment

Awake thou wintry earth

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

We, in Minnesota, are yet to see Spring in full green. I think it is just a few more days of wait, after all no winter stays for ever and no spring forgets its turn.

I will sue you for the heck of it

One of the few things that amused me when I first came to US was the nature of lawsuits filed in this country. People here mockingly use the words "I will sue you". But, I understood the gravity behind these words only after I heard the story behind the caution on the paper cups in which coffee is served in the American coffee shops. I was having my first cup of Starbucks coffee in the US, and could not help noticing the warning "Careful, the beverage you are about to enjoy is extremely hot". Of course it has to be, it's a cup of coffee. Who guessed, accidentally spilling coffee could lead to product liability litigation and fetch 640,000 dollars. In a country where warning signs on hair dryers read "Do not use in shower" for the fear of getting sued, it is totally sensible to have a caution on coffee cups reminding people that it's content is hot.

According to studies by the Economic Journal, Americans spend a lot more on civil litigation compared to others. In year 2002 alone, there were about 16 million civil cases filed in the courts. The fear of lawsuits has changed the way people do even the simplest of things. No longer can lives of people be the same when frivolous lawsuits are filed on a family owned restaurant for serving not so hot soup, or on a weather channel for not predicting rain, or on a school management when a kid gets hurt while playing.

Bizarre and funny lawsuits is a common case. One such instance happened in the 90s after a Michigan man watched advertisements by Budweiser beer company. In the advertisement, beautiful girls came across a man's way while he  was drinking the beer, but unfortunately for him it didn't work out. He went ahead and sued the beer company and the court dismissed the case. I wonder how the courts tolerate such junk and useless cases and waste their valuable time. There is no bound to creativity when a prisoner filed a legal litigation on himself for a few millions for the crimes he committed. Had he won the case, the government must pay him since he is in jail and not earning and could not pay himself for the legal lawsuit filed by himself. I don't really understand what exactly happens to common sense?

The sue-for-everything mantra became popular in America, when the legislators  in 1960s decided to give the people of this country a right to demand monetary compensation for any ill treatment meted out by them. Sadly, this "right" is very rarely put to use in the right way. Doctors suffer the most in this country, because a significant number of medical cases which lead to failures end up into a lawsuit - doctor getting sued, or the equipment manufacturers, medicines or even the hospital as such. This leads to a huge increase in cost of healthcare and hence costs of medical insurance.

Glad we did not have such a suing culture in India, else it would have been another source of free money people will be looking for, like lottery!

Memories of 2010

Picture of the year; This is the view from my window and I have shot pictures of this view for a period of one complete month. This particular shot depicts Minnesota in the true sense, the state known for its severe winters and sunshine. You would see sun shining with its full might even when the mercury reads sub zero Fahrenheit.

For me 2010 was the year of travel and movies, majorly. Some of the significant changes that took place in my life were my graduation, and my comeback in blogging. Needless to say about the wonderful acquaintances I made in this blogging world.

When the year started, I was in India for the new year, and spent quality time with family and met some good friends back home. And, I had been to lots of places and did lots of things. I posed in front of a US Senator's podium in a Senate building in Washington D.C. and been on a cruise touring some of the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin. I met some good friends in San Francisco and had been to super busy one day trips to New York, San Jose and Chicago. Also, went on a long road trip to Mt. Rushmore and Badlands in South Dakota, and had a gala time with lovely people in Wisconsin Dells and in West Lafayette. Not to mention all those innumerable wonderful places in and around Minnesota I had been to along with friends, and those trips to Duluth.

I have no clue about the number of movies I have watched in the last year. One hundred, or may be more. There was a certain time - about a month - when I would slog the entire day working and watch at least one movie with out fail before the day ended. Only to get some mental satisfaction and make myself happy that I was trying to take some time off for my self by watching the movie. And those were the days I would sleep early in the morning and wake up in the morning. Of all the movies, I must say I was awestruck watching "It's a wonderful life" by Frank Capra in 1946. I was equally impressed with the way the movie was taken at that time and the subject of the movie. And, realized I have a thing for feel good movies where no one is a bad thug. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy mindless action movies like "The A Team". And, I must confess I regretted watching "Machette". Sheer nonsense and F grade, the movie was!

Just like any other year, there were good and bad times as well. And that's part of life, isn't it?

What was 2010 for you?

Badlands

The good place that has got a bad name.

Badlands National Park in South Dakota provides a picturesque view with the colorful ridges, sharp spires, steep canyons and deep gorges formed out of volcanic ashes. These volcanic ashes are carved ans sculptured into breathtaking forms by erosion caused due to rainfall and winds over the years. The name These lands made the lives of our ancestor dwellers very difficult to cross them during their exploration, and hence the name Badlands. For more information on Badlands, follow the link here.

P.S. Watch for Rattle snakes when you go there.

Posted for Thursday Photo Contest (Theme: "Brown").

Celebrations

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 16; the sixteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

It definitely is a week of celebration so far. Celebrated Halloweens with friends for the first time. I was the Crazy Joker with a bloody butcher knife. And to accompany me, some of my friends also masked up in scary avatars. The Zakusi guard, the Zombie with braided hair, the monster who never smiles, the nameless warrior, the headless phantom and the scream guy. Super fun it was!!!

And the big thing to celebrate was I graduated with a degree in MS from Univ of Minnesota after putting in lots of effort. The sweat, the energy and the soul I put in it reaped the fruits.:P This leaves me with the big question, what next? But who cares now? At least for a little while let me enjoy the happiness. I definitely am happy now that I'm done and it should be obvious from my words. Also, bought myself a brand new iPhone4 as a graduation gift. Here is a screen capture from my MS project, and it's a rendering of simulated blood flow through aorta of heart with a mechanical heart valve and the path some of the blood particles take throughout the course represented as lines.

And although we didn't celebrate Diwali the way we would in India, it was a non-stop food celebration. Made vadas for the first time after hours of effort, and here you see our yummy vadas with finely grated onions, chillies and ginger added in style.

But none of these can ever match up with the way we celebrate Diwali in India with family and friends. I hope everyone had a wonderful Diwali!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Healed

lonely and peaceful,

far from hustle and bustle.

a blemished heart healed

 

Here is me exploring and enjoying the nature at Custer State Park in South Dakota.

 Posted for

Thursday Photo Contest

One Single Impression

Haiku Heights

War, peace and the side effects

Just a few hours ago while I was traveling in the local bus, I became the subject of a strange situation. Although I was expecting such a thing to happen sometime, I was quite shocked when it actually happened. I happen to grow my beard a little longer than usual these days. And today I was asked by my fellow passenger in the bus to not blow away the bus with a bomb. At first I thought he was kidding and laughed back in response, but he kept on saying that for about 6 - 8 times until he got down the bus. He said its okay for him if I trigger the bomb I was supposedly carrying after he leaves the bus. To add to my shock, a bunch of other people around me were laughing when all this was happening. Not sure if this incident comes under racial abuse or whatever but it really disturbed me for sometime. And it really left me thinking how many others face this scenario in their lives and how disturbed they get.

And this made me think about the chicken and egg kind of question, but in this case it's easy to find answers. Did terrorism start first or greed? More specifically in the context of USA, did terrorism against them start first or did their greedy nature to become oil power of the world by saving natural resources in their land and declaring war on Oil rich countries? I think it is the latter case. After all the damage has been done in Iraq, thanks to Bush and other masterminds, Obama has taken up the job of scavenger to clean the mess made by his predecessors. Listen to Obama's speech from the Oval office about declaring the end of Iraq war. But is the war over yet? 

Will it be the same to all those who lost their loved ones on both the sides? And, with the situation gone so far will there ever be peace? To me, when I think of this whole war situation I feel the fire was light and fuel was added. And, its just the matter of time to let the fire rage! 

~Vee...

P.S.1: Not thinking of giving up on my beard look yet! 

P.S.2: Thinking of reading War and Peace which I've been putting off since years. 

Itasca State Park

This week's Photo Theme for Thursday is Outdoors. Here it is, a photo shot in the 8 mile bike trail in woods at Itasca State Park, Wisconsin last summer. This is shot using a regular point and shoot camera. Go green!

~Vee...

BLUE

Living in Minnesota gives me a very good opportunity to go to beaches with scenic beauty of Lake Superior. When I came across the theme "Blue" I thought it should be cake walk for me to submit an entry as I have tons of pictures lying around clicked on various occasions. This one clicked using a normal point and shoot camera is one of the best clicked in Duluth, Minnesota last summer.

~Vee...

Trip to Apostle Islands

I never thought I would get back to blogging again. I was frustrated for a variety of reasons and gave up completely. But then, it was while planning our trip to Apostle Islands along with friends for the July 4th long weekend in the US I realized the importance of blogging. Earlier, I used to keep track of all my travel details in my blog so that it would help others. I still see people stopping by my blog while looking for travel details to Devarayanaradurga, Nandi Hills and other places around Bangalore. That is some inspiration, isn't it? Now, here I'm with all of you back in the blogosphere.

Enough said about my come back story, Apostle Islands are a group of Islands in Lake Superior in Wisconsin. Some of the islands are named after 12 Apostles (no great story behind the islands being named after Apostles, it was done by Jesuits who drew the first maps), and hence the name Apostle Islands. More here  and wiki.

A glimpse of what we experienced from the lens of my dear friend.

In the picture above, the land in the far end is Madeline Island, the largest island of the group.

View of some of the islands on our way to Raspberry Island from the shore in a cruise.

We were supposed to start on Saturday morning, but out of all excitement we hit the roads by 2:00 in the night. After a brief halt for Sunrise view in Duluth and a plethora of kodak moments clicked, we headed to Washburn - a small town near the coast despite our GPS directing us into woods. 

I will not further bore you by overloading with teeny weeny details of the trip, but a few highlights here:

• Frisbee in the ice cold waters of Lake Superior
• Savoring freshly picked juicy strawberries for breakfast
• Enjoying chilled beer sitting on the shore
• The nonstop July 4th fireworks extravaganza at Bayfield
• Cruise to Raspberry Island from Bayfield shore is one helluva experience
• Delicious food on Madeline island and in the bay
• Miss. Rosy (?) who paid our check at lunch for no reason
• And, all the chitter-chatter and arguments over little nothings

 The pictures above are from another good friend and photographer in the making! :)

All right guys.. Now you know where you are going, so put on your travel hat!!

 ~Vee

P.S.: I've been procrastinating posting this stuff since past three weeks. I'm glad I did it now!