Nandan's Pyramid

Testing blog

2008-06-13T14:36:00.001-05:00

Travel

2008-06-13T14:30:00.001-05:00

I like to travel. I like to go to different places, to see new things. But mostly, I like to know things that no one else knows. An amazing coffee in a little bistro in a lost suburb of Paris, midnight pastry in a mall in New York, pasta in the moonlight in Florence, an early morning stroll in the South Hampton, a new romance in Venice, spicy chat in a corner of Mumbai. But that’s just for the tongue. There’s so much more for the eyes to see, for the ears to hear, the skin to feel, and for the emotions to sense.

My favourite city is Boston. There is always something new to do in Boston for me. From Dorchester Bay to the malls in South End to the Italian restaurants in North End. I already know what I must do in my next visit there. Brunch at MIT Square, the Freedom Trail, dinner in North End, coffee in Porter. And the photos are always endless.

I’ve just reread the paragraph above, and I sound like someone who has been to Boston a million times, when I’ve been there only twice, but that’s the kind of city Boston is. It signifies to me freedom of a higher degree than I have ever imagined before. It’s to Boston, I will always return.

Orange Juice

2007-07-04T21:05:00.001-05:00

I have found America to be a country that thrives on capitalism. The end consumer is completely mistreated and humiliated by big companies in every service and product. Except Orange Juice.
Orange Juice is available in various categories. The basic classification begins on what kind of pulp you like. There's No Pulp, Some Pulp, and then of course, Lots of Pulp. These are further classified by brands. My personal favourite has been Tropicana's No Pulp Low Acid. Other Tropicana populars are the Original, Calcium+Vitamin D added and the HomeStyle versions.
Until recently, believed that all these were organic varieties of orange juice. But then Tropicana came out with the new USDA (US Dept of Agriculture) approved Organic Orange Juice, which i have found is not only their tastiest version so far, it is also obviously the most nutritious.

Lemon tree

2007-02-27T19:59:00.001-06:00

Lemon Tree

Lemon tree, my lemon tree
what is it that you wish to say?
You must wait for the wind to come
and when it’s here, you mustn’t sway.

That aroma of yours, it caresses me gently,
And it is still not, january.
Lemon tree, my lemon tree
what is it that you wish to say?
You must wait for the spring to come
and when it’s here, you mustn’t sway.

That flower of yours, has turned to fruit,
Lets test the strength, of your very root.
Lemon tree, my lemon tree
what is it that you wish to say?
You must wait for summer’s still
and when it’s here, you too must be still.

That fruit of yours, it’s no longer raw,
All the grass was once straw.
Lemon tree, my lemon tree
what is it that you wish to say?
You must wait for the rain to fall,
and when it’s here, you may recall.

And, yes, it’s true, your leaves will tumble,
While the wind howls, and the clouds rumble.
Lemon tree, my lemon tree
what is it that you wish to say?
You must wait for the cold to settle,
and when it’s here, you must prove your mettle.

I know it’s cold, I’m freezing too,
In this weather, we sure could use some loo.
Lemon tree, my lemon tree
what is it that you wish to say?
You must wait for spring again,
and when it’s here, you’ll be free of pain.

I Remember

2007-02-27T18:19:00.000-06:00

I remember that the winds were light, like it just wanted to touch you again and again. I remember that the grass was absolutely green. It was the perfect day to be asked, "How green can grass get?". I remember that the scent of the lemon tree over my head was ecstatic. I remember the few clouds in the sky only highlighted the sun in the February afternoon. I remember how quiet the house was. I remember how I lay in the lawn of the house I haven't visited since. My head lying on the grass. I remember how everything was at peace, all the elders had gone to sleep for the afternoon, and that no one would disturb anyone till early evening. My grandmother had died, and this was the afternoon following her funeral service. I was the youngest at the service. I remember how my back was killing me, after having bent over to take everyone's blessings, having done peri-penna a million times before, and another million today. My grandmother had many well-wishers. I remember how it did good to do nothing, lazing on the grass, surrounded by beautiful flowers and a tangy-aroma-ed lemon tree. I remember it as a day when a lot of tears had been shed, but I also remember it as the day I felt truly at peace.

Last Month

2007-02-16T05:23:00.000-06:00

Last month was sad, with that cold that turned out to be bronchitis (yeah, i know), followed by bad weather such that i didn't fly for almost three weeks. i did, however make a new friend online, who is jewish, (i've never known anyone jewish) and we chat of all things possible, and impossible. Last week was bad weather again, so haven't flown for about five days, but today seems to be clearing up, and i just might go up for a stage check tomorrow. once i clear that, i will go on a solo cross-country flight(exceeding 100Nautical Mile total distance, not an international flight). Once that is done and the minimum requirements met, i will be ready for my check-ride for my private pilot's certificate. once that is done, i will go into instrument hour-building, and later into instrument flying.

Valentine's Day came and went and felt like any ordinary day, which was a refreshing change, as on most V-days I'm usually very elated for absolutely no reason what so ever. It snowed here, little flakes gently settling onto the ground, not falling, but settling. it was like a huge tanker of salt had burst high in the skies. even now the remaining snow looks like spilled salt.

For those of you who have been complaining i haven't written in a long time, i'm sorry. as a compensation i'm writing a story, that probably will not get anywhere beyond 200 pages but no matter, i'll still complete it, finish it.

may reiki bless you,
nanz

A Daunting Cold

2007-01-07T17:14:00.000-06:00

I have a cold. A daunting, draining, demoralizing cold. Every time I move, it seems I am dragging heavy chains that want me bound to the ground. It is difficult to think of anything when you know thousands of germs reside in your every breath, waiting to cause you to cough again. I cannot fly these days, I cannot even leave the house. No matter. I now seem to have ample time to catch up on studies, although it is difficult to concentrate when you keep 'coughing up a storm every few minutes.

Time

2006-12-13T00:07:00.000-06:00

A lot of people have been asking me if I thought my training would be complete within six months as I had previously anticipated. No. It will not. Two and a half months are already over and I am not yet half-way throught my Private Pilots License (PPL) (or is it Lisense?) and I expect it to be complete not before mid-January, which would be about three and a half months. It is then to be followed by Instrument Rating (IR), which is supposed to be the toughest of all, and I expect that will take atleast two months by itself. Next comes Commercial Pilots License (CPL), which will require an additional hundred hours of flight, amounting to another two months, on the lesser side. Finally we have the Multi Engine Rating (ME/MER), which should not take more than three weeks. Of course all of this is dependent on the weather, and then I need to get my passport renewed as it expires in the first week of April, and i highly doubt my training is going to finish anytime before early june, and if i intend to continue to fly while my passport has gone for renewal, i will need to get a local id, which is another pain in the butt, but i guess what has to be done, just has to be done.

I was doing reiki the other day, and it felt great! like a splash of fresh water, revitalizing every fibre of my being, especially since i did it for around three hours. i must find time to do it more often.

Cold and Clear

2006-12-05T19:53:00.000-06:00

Well the weather has improved for flying, the ice has mostly gone and flying has started again. But brrrr, its really cold, and when i say its really cold, i mean 8 degrees below zero, so that when i'm out on the snow, doing my preflight inspection of the plane, my hands are absolutely numb, and so i need to come back inside and thaw them out before we can take-off, hence for a 7 am flight we depart at 7.45. we need a furnace to thaw people from the flights cause its sooo cold out there. Then the weather channel says its not even winter yet. and then they say global warming is a problem! I said this to my instructor, so he replies that cause its heating up everywhere in the world, we are the unlucky ones to be stuck in nowhere, where its freezing cold.

Stupid, Stupid Weather

2006-12-01T22:06:00.000-06:00

It seems my life revolves around the weather. Thanks to all the snow that had fallen, its all ice, ice baby. There's ice everywhere, from the street to the runways, and thanks to that, there's no flying as the airport is closed till 12.30 pm tomorrow, and then they will open, and if the ice is not expected to melt on its own, then they may, i said they may, start to clear the ice off the runways and taxiways, and by the time all that is done and the aircraft is ready to go, its gonna be something like 5.15pm so its nearly sunset, and so we cannot go anymore. ugghh. Its quite annoying really. I haven't flown since last Friday, and its Friday already. I think the next time I fly again will be Monday.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

2006-11-30T14:50:00.000-06:00

It started last night, with freezing rain changing to ice pellets in the morning and then to snow at about 3 in the afternoon. Its beautiful, absolutely stunning. This is the first time i'm seeing snow, and though its reallly reeeaaallllyyyyy cold, its really really pretty also. I've seen a glacier before, but never snow. I was going to Boston earlier, but because of the last minute plan, i could only get like a $638 ticket, and since that was way too expensive, i had to cancel. In a way its a good thing, because this way i get to see snow here, and not miss out on any flying. i'm loving this weather. so much for cribbing about the weather.

Cribbing about weather!

2006-11-29T18:12:00.000-06:00

The weather has been so bad these days, that i haven't flown since sunday, and i will not fly again till atleast friday. i would have gone to boston, but the tickets were too expensive, since i was trying to buy them at the last minute. but my trip to boston has been post-poned for another three weeks, so i'll be going there in the weekend before christmas. with this stupid weather, it doesn't look like i'm going to be able to complete my training within six months, so i'm gonna have to go to houston and get my passport revalidated. let's see.

What!?!

2006-11-26T12:48:00.000-06:00

"What!?!" my instructor says when he looks at the weather. cloud ceiling broken at 1,400 feet above the ground, hovering over there like bees around honey. horrrrible weather. especially since it was forecast to be at 2,500 feet, which was good enough.

"In the unlikely event of engine failure, I may select to carry out a forced landing. If I do, please remove any glasses, false teeth or high heels, and adopt the brace position on my command....." and so my flight begins.

we were supposed to do ground reference flying, and we end up doing patterns. stupid ridiculous patterns. bumpy weather, low clouds, and bad rudder resulting in horrible taxying. its been a bad day. i think i've already made that clear. it seems the next few days are going to be bad weather ahead, but i cant be sure. and since i can never be sure, so i can't even go to boston or cincinnati, to visit my cousins.

Back in Gear (or at the Yoke)

2006-11-22T17:42:00.000-06:00

So my flying has restarted, i've got about 22 hours of flight time logged. am flying again on friday, if the weather permits, and that should complete my lesson 8 of stage one, and then i'll move onto lesson 9 which is solo, which is where my instructor is not in the plane, and i've to do three circuit landings, all on my own. that may be next week, again if the weather permits.

tomorrow is thanksgiving. we guys are preparing dinner (turkey traditionale) for the girls and some others. we still dont know who all we have invited. surprise surprise. we still have to get the turkey, the stuffing, then put the stuffing in the turkey, and then let the turkey roast for around 10hours. long process, i know, but we'll do it.

Bad, Bad Weather

2006-11-08T18:28:00.000-06:00

stupid, stupid weather! i haven't flown for four days now. Tomorrow i get to fly and then again two more days of bad weather. this changing season is not nice for starting flying training. with cold fronts moving in every week, its a lot of thunderstorms for two days followed by two days of fog. thank God this is not gonna happen all winter, or i'd have been stuck here forever. but when the going gets tough,.... i like to sleep in ;).

take care everyone,
may reiki bless you

The Big Question?

2006-10-30T14:11:00.000-06:00

When is my flying starting? That's a question many have been asking me. Well, it started on saturday. it was good fun, to be back in the air after such a long time. Then i flew again on sunday. even better. the weather is beautiful these days, (except today, which happens to be too gusty to fly, hence i am writing this) the trees are shedding, the winds are blowing, the bears are hibernating. its all quite beautiful. c'est magnifique.

tomorrow is halloween. we may have a party. note that its still a may-have, and its all mayhem. we may have a costume party.

Private Pilot

2006-10-24T20:09:00.000-05:00

Yay! i cleared my PPL written exam today. i got an 82% (passing was 70) so its all good. Ground school has finally finished, so no more daily classes. Its gonna be a less hectic from now onwards. also, i've made $1.22 in the last two days through google's adsense feature, where i'm giving google space to advertise (basically, Google acts like a broker). i hopefully start flying tomorrow (if the weather permits)

Diwali

2006-10-22T01:47:00.000-05:00

Well, Diwali came and went by in a jiffy. had a small get-together, but it wasn't any real fun since we not only didn't have any fireworks(no surprise there) but we didn't even have any lights. so much for the festival of lights. next is halloween, later this month. our neighbours have already started putting up their halloween decorations, and walmart(http://www.walmart.com) has had, for a month now, an entire aisle dedicated to halloween, called 'spooky central', where they sell large packs of candy n chocolate.

and my diwali present was my mac, which arrived yesterday, and i'm loving it. havent touched my pc notebook since.

Stage Check

2006-10-19T22:49:00.000-05:00

nder so i got a 96 in today's test, that's one question short of a hundred. have to still start on homework (still!!!!). finally got my TSA (i think i've said that before), so my flying will start sometime next week. right now ground school is very hectic, and the next test is on monday.

i'm getting a new laptop, an apple mac. for those of you who care to know, its 13" widescreen with intel core duo 1.8ghz, 60gb hdd, 512mb ram, and built in camera. its only 1.08inches thick and feels awesome. its been shipped, and will be with me soon. yay!!!

p.s. it cost me under $1200, and i'm loving every inch of it. i think it was worth every penny.

Gimme Back My Money : A Sardar Joke

2006-10-19T22:29:00.000-05:00

A sardar saw a food vending machine in USA and wondered how it worked. As there was a local around he asked him, and was hence told. So once he was vended a hamburger, he realizes its non-vegetarian, so he immediately puts it back, and starts slamming the machine, shouting "Gimme back my money, you stupid machine."

A typical sardar joke, but it is a true story, and i know who it happened to! (but i'm not going to name him)

Stage Check

2006-10-18T19:41:00.000-05:00

So i got an 84% in the first stage check. the next one is tomorrow. and i also got my TSA clearance today, so i can start flying tomorrow onwards, if the weather permits. today it was all foggy in the morning, and overcast clouds till sunset.

also, i'm getting a new laptop, an apple mac. thanks to the free shipping, its gonna arrive on monday! maybe i should have paid the extra forty dollars and opted for next day delivery, cause this wait is making me tug at my hair.

Tulsa

2006-10-17T19:22:00.000-05:00

Riverside Flight Center is a nice place to be. Everyone is friendly and so nice. My flying has not started yet, as the TSA security clearance has not yet come through. I should get it any day now. Ground school started on 9th October, and that's aslo when I met my flight instructor, Robbie. Here everyone calls everyone else by first names. Quite informal sort of an environment. Everyday its ground school in the morning 9 to 1, followed by Robbie's class, which usually lasts till 7. And then the bus leaves at 7.20 and arrives at the apartment at 8. and we get a half hour somewhere in the middle to eat what little food we had time to pick up in the morning for lunch. As soon as i arrive at home, the first thing i say is "oh my God, i'm so hungry", which you would find surprising if you had seen me even once. so food is made and eaten, and then we all sit down to do homework, which sometimes lasts till 2 in the night.

They have 17 planes here at riverside, including 2 Beech Duchesses (multi), and also have another 20 at ready availability. The apartment is a luxury, with heat and hot water, and power, all paid for. And thank God we have a dishwasher, and microwave, with the power paid for, included in the course fees, with the accomodation. We had a washing machine in our apartment, so we didn't have to got in the cold to the laundry center, but now they've taken that away.

I was planning to move to Philadelphia earlier, but all that has now been cancelled, and i'm staying in Tulsa.