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.

Snow covered car

Snow cover on Toyota Camry 2011 over night. Have encountered worse than this though! Waiting for the summer now.

Posted for Thursday Photography contest

Learnings from my ice skating experience

I have, for the first time in my life, gone ice skating in St. Paul downtown during Christmas break. That's one of the advantages living in places with severe winters. We had to pay only $2 per person for renting the ice skates, and the entry was free of cost. Definitely a very cheap deal!

Being a beginner I was quite apprehensive initially, but it turned out to be a wonderful experience. We spent more than 2 hours trying to learn and we were only left with a feeling to go back again soon after the entire session. The best sight I have come across was little kids of 3 - 5 years skating effortlessly, a visual treat to watch them skate.

A few things I have learned are

Regardless of the temperatures outside and your skill level, it is a good idea to don your winter gear properly since you will be exposed to cold for quite sometime skating on the ice rink outdoors. When I say proper winter gear, wear all your layers - winter hat to woolen socks, scarf to gloves and jeans to winter jacket.  

You really don't need to feel awkward that you don't know how to skate when you do it for the first time. You would see a lot of people falling down on the rink in an attempt to skate, and you will fall down as well. That adds to the fun part of the experience.

Be it a group of friends you go along with, your significant other or your family, ice-skating also proved to be a social experience. You would get a feeling that you have spent quality time with your group.

And, hell yeah, it's a great source of exercise. You would sweat a lot even though you skate outdoors in the freezing temperatures for hours. 

Trying hitting the nearest ice-skating rink and there is a good chance you would like the experience.

Lights

The theme for this week's photo contest is "Lights". Here are some hanging lights from World Financial Center in New York City. Definitely a treat to the eyes.

Let us also add Minnesotan element to this theme.

 

Snowfall

A new beginning
Echoes with the leafless trees
Clad in silky snow

Snow started all of a sudden this year. What was a pleasant sunny city until yesterday morphed into white color completely after the sudden 6-inch thick snow fall today. Here is another photo of this place early this morning and the snow-lady we built for the record. :D 

Posted for

Haiku Heights

One Single Impression

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.

Fall colors

A treat to the eyes
When nature tries to show off!
Rejoice the colors.

It's about time for Fall colors. Last year we didn't have proper colors due to an early winter. 2008 was one of the best in terms of colors. Here is a picture of 08 colors from the Minnesota campus.

Last Saturday, I've been to Duluth along with friends exclusively for Fall Colors. Although the colors are not at their best, it still was a feast to the eyes! The picture below is from Savannah State Park, Duluth, Minnesota!

Posted for

(Prompt: Rejoice)
&
One Single Impression (Prompt: Try)

Fun in Frozen Winters

This is the Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis completely frozen during winter. And this is how a typical day during winter is, in Minnesota. Personally, the least temperature I've experienced is -40Centigrade (which is also -40Farenheit) in December 2008. Fun place, isn't it?! :) 

Posted for Thursday photo challenge for fun and learning through photographs.

~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...

A New Beginning

Lotsa new experiences! What do I start with? Where do I begin? First and foremost thing is attending classes after a long gap of 2.5 years, it just reminds me of all the fun I had in good old days of undergrad. But classes here are much different, I find grandfathers taking the same class I take, may be its the 'Gnanam Param Balam' motto that they follow and polish their knowledge every now and then. A special mention goes to the babes out here - somehow i don't feel like calling them gals and addressing them as ladies makes it much formal, so lemme stick to the word babes. But whatever be it Desi gals are the best, last night I attended an Indian students gathering and there is this one cute desi gal who stole my heart. Couldn't stop staring at her until all my friends made fun of me.

The other day I was shocked when an American colleague of mine asked me "Who's your favorite actor in Bollywood?" When I asked how he knew about Bollywood, his answer was "Everyone knows about Bollywood, it makes large number of movies every year, isn't it!" I suggested him to watch Om Shanti Om when he asked me for a movie, because with all the reincarnation, flashy and colorful sets, dancing numbers and all it will give him a good idea of what Bollywood movies are. Americans have a general idea that Indians movies are full of dancing.

What else! Its Minneapolis. A cool place with generous and friendly people, they say its one of the safest places in this country. And at the same time people scare me with all their experiences about the harsh winters here. A few days back watched pre-screening of the movie Death Race, which deals with the extremely fictious state of this country in 2012 after the downfall of its economy. And also had been to Minnehaha Falls, Lake Calhoun and Mall of America here in Minneapolis. When I tell people that I had been to all these places, they say I pretty much covered majority of the places in this city.

PS: Yay, got my brand new Dell Inspiron y'day!! :D
PPS: Thats Stone Arch bridge across Mississippi river in the second pic.