Fidgety Foots

Raghu sent me this, and I couldn’t resist sharing.

See the Italian team in training.

This was in my inbox today.

Dear Tejasvini Prasad
This is to remind you that you had sent some flowers/Gifts to Komal on 4th Jul year ie 2005
Would you like to send some Fresh Flowers or Fresh Baked Cakes to Komal this year too !
Please Place your order now
Best regards
Yash
www.IndiaOnlineFlorists.com

Last weekend we finally visited one of the most popular tourist spots in California-Lake Tahoe. We had made camping reservations at Emerald Bay State Park in March and even back then, there were few spots open. We realized why when we rounded a bend on Hwy 50 and caught our first glimpse of the blue waters of Lake Tahoe, the word breathtaking immediately comes to mind. We spent the first day acclimatizing to the altitude (6500 ft) and indulging in the time-honored traditions (or so I hear) of photographing Emerald Bay, hiking the Eagles Falls trails and visiting Vikingsholm. Vikingsholm is totally overrated, Eagles Falls is impressive especially with the snowpack run-off in full flow and Emerald Bay’s name does it justice.

We spent the evening on the banks of the lake near our campsite watching a rather magnificent sunset.

Day two was the designated “lets punish ourselves” day and the chosen activity was a hike to the summit of Mt. Tallac (9300 ft) in the Desolation Wilderness area from the Fallen Leaf Lake trailhead. We stopped at Soda Springs on the way - a bubbling well of carbonated water. If only we’d remembered to bring the cola mix…

We proceeded to walk through some of the loveliest terrain either of us has seen. How should I describe the hike; one word-humbling. As I was telling Teju, every now and then we humans gloat about our accomplishments and our status as the superior species, and then nature in her quiet way figures out how to dispell that notion. Calm alpine lake surrounded by majestic pines, with snow capped peaks reflected in clear blue water will do that to you. There were plenty of ooh-aah scenery moments but none of them compared to the view at Lake Gilmore.

We decided to break for a quick lunch at Lake Gilmore and then continue on to the last stretch of the trail which was a 1.6 mile hike to the summit. The only problem was that it was getting a little late (2.00pm), the trail was under banks of snow and there were clouds gathering in the distance. A few hikers coming down told us that the trail below the tree line was wiped out, but that as long as we kept going uphill we were headed in the right direction and once we were above the tree line we would see the summit trail. And press on we did.

The hike became decidedly tougher with slushy snow, rocks and a marked increase in steepness. However, the pay-off was getting to view the grandeur of the Sierras spread out below us with no one else to share it with. An hour later, we had just crossed the tree line at about 9000 ft when dark thunderclouds started to make their presence felt and a bolt of lightning in the distance persuaded us to turn around and head back despite the summit being in our sights. Trekking down on the barren exposed hillside with thunder and lightning was very unnerving, but the best thing to do was to just keep moving which is what we did. By the time we were safely among the trees, the rain was coming down hard so we found a nice spot near Lake Gilmore and waited for the rain to subside. The trek back was uneventful and we were back at our car by 6.30pm, a total hike of about 11 miles with 2500 ft elevation gain in 8 hours. It was without a doubt the best hike we have done to date and that is saying something.
On the third day we decided to try our hand at para-sailing. We drove to South Tahoe city and got slotted in to para-sail at Timber cove. Great experience and a definite must-do if you ever get a chance. Soaring 1200ft above dark blue waters at 30 mph is a definite thrill!!

Overall, it was a great trip. Given a chance we would probably avoid the main Lake Tahoe area completely as we found it very touristy, perfect for a family trip, but not if you are looking for something more remote. We are already planning a return trip, but next time we are planning to do a backpacking trip out to one of the alpine lakes and stay in the wilderness for a day or two.

Click here for more  photos of the trip

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

Guys in India are getting dimples inserted in their cheeks (their facial ones). Why you ask? Well, because India’s superstar Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) has one and because, as the surgeon puts it, “dimples are in vogue”!!

My favorite line in the article? Tough call, but among all the gems, this one stands out, “My friends are already calling me Shah Rukh!” grinned Tinwala flashing a dimple”.

I am not sure what appalls me more about this “message board“, the views of the participants or the systematic butchering of the English language.
Also, I am going to throw this poll in here, but considering the sampling size, I doubt if it accurately represents the prevailing attitude in Indian society regarding this topic. More interesting would be to see if and how the numbers change depending on the age, location, education, etc. of those polled.

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?

“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.

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 favorite 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.

This kid has his/her parents a lot to thank for……or maybe not!! I mean how cool would it be to be born on this date? Hmm, I can just see the Dad shaving the kid’s hair to make sure.