Day 2 of our Dec 2009 Vacation

Woke up at 8:30 and had a quick breakfast at our hotel (Quinta Inn). Started driving towards Miami. The road was fairly boring, and I somehow managed to stay awake. One close call, as we approached Miami. I noticed a Volkswagon Beetle in the right lane, a little behind us. I put on my indicator and tried to change lanes. The Beetle guy accelerated like a possessed guy and came in to close the gap. I made the mistake of not checking before changing my lanes. Uma's gasp alerted me to it and I came back to my lane. Car swerved a bit but everything else was ok. Phew! We then proceeded to Miami Intl Airport and dropped off our car at 1:30 pm. Now we had to get to the cruise by 2:30 pm. We asked the car rental guys if they could give us a ride to the Port of Miami (where we had to board the cruise). They told us a bus could pick us up but it would show up in 30 mins. We panicked, as we didnt want to barely make it to the cruise. We got ourselves a cab (for 26$), and drove off. As we left the rental car location, we saw what seemed to be our bus, just pulling in to the lot :) Oh well.

As we pulled towards the Port of Miami, we were very eager to catch a sight of the cruise ship. I had no idea of what to expect from the size of this ship, or what the harbor front would look like. My first glimpse was not disappointing at all. This was big all right! It looked pretty colorful too. And there was lots of activity at the harbor front. A porter came to talk to us. He asked us to drop off our heavy luggages there. He was also nice enough to point out that any tips for him should be made right then, since we would not see him after that. Good job, man! This, my friends, is begging in its truest form. Not asking for tips! After that, Uma was visibly anxious about the next steps. I was unusually calm for my personality. We walked in through some procedures which seemed fairly similar to the airlines check-in procedures. A security screening for your carryon luggages, followed by printing of boarding passes, and finally taking the walkway to our cruise. There were a lot of people high on red bull (or something else ?) welcoming us. We were offerred free champagne or orange juice (in a champagne glass) at the entrance. Once you enter the cruise, nothing really feels like you are on a cruise. Excepting that you keep reminding yourself of that all the time. We entered what seemed to be like a bar area. There were a lot of the ship's crew who had set up shop there and tried to get us to buy something. It could be either a reservation for two, for dinner or a chance to enter a lottery, or something to do with the casino. Somehow, we avoided this trap. We were kind og eager to see our rooms at this point, as it looked like there was no real exit route from this trap! We found our way to the elevators. By that time, Uma had regained her composure. She was ready with information on which floor we should be going to, and what we should be expecting. We reached out room, which looked pretty much like the pictures on the net. The first thing I noticed was a small portable tv. Not just because I am a guy, but because it was switched on. There seemed to be some sort of a safety announcement being made at that point. We sat for a few mins, freshened up and walked out to explore the rest of the boat. We were actually very hungry at this point, having not eaten anything since breakfast. It was around 3 pm. Now, food is one of the things I was very curious about, on this cruise. I had heard stories about the famous buffets on cruises. Not particularly that they are delicious, but that they are available at most times, and people end up eating a lot. We asked a crew member for directions, and she directed us, to THE buffet! Here I was, 3 in the afternoon, standing in a buffet line, snacking on pastries, lemon rice, breads, and pretty much anything else vegetarian they had to offer!

After we had eaten lunch 1, we set off to explore the rest of the cruise. Uma was like a person who had 50 redbulls! She was not tired and wanted to see what the cruise had to offer. It turned out to be a blessing, as we became aware of almost everything that was free on this cruise! There were 3 important activity places - The Stardust theater which had a lot of free shows, the buffet place on the top deck, which had free, unlimited food almost any time of the day, and the deck area itself which had a couple of pools, hot tubs, ping pong tables, basketball courts and a whole lot of other activities. We hung around near the pool area for a while, relaxing on the beach chairs, under the sun! Oh yes, did I mention the sun ? It was mid 70s when we started and we were expecting 83 degrees C the next day, at Nassau, Bahamas. But like the cruise director warned us, they were expecting the wind chill to bring it down to 82 deg C! After a while of lazing around, we went to other floors (there were floors 5 to 11 to explore). We were then given a security briefing, about how to use life vests. The crew were very particular that everyone do this training, at a specified location, as against seeing the video from your cabins. We returned to our room after a while, to see the ship set sail. It was wonderful to stand in the balcony, and face the Miami traffic, who were waving from their cars, as they were driving! Some of them pulled over to just wave to us! All this while, we were also enjoying beautiful views, and taking lots of pictures. This is probably one of the few times when I thought the upgrade was totally worth it. We had a choice of taking a room without a balcony, and we chose this one. I strongly recommend this!

After we were well away from the port, Uma and I decided to get ready and explore the rest of the cruise again. We were also slightly hungry (again!). First things first, we stopped to get Uma flip flops from the gift store. Expensinve, but not as bad as I had expected. We then stopped by a restaurant to eat. They had very interesting sounding food, which tasted weird. Uma was not able to eat much. I asked her if she would be ok for the night. She indicated in a not-so-subtle way that we should go upstairs, for another round of the buffet! :) One good thing that came out of eating at this restaurant, was that the staff alerted us to a free song and dance show that was to happen, in their theater. The cruise is full of free food and free activities. You have to put in a little effort to find out where these food and activities are. Not very difficult to do, but you have to put in some effort. When you board the cruise, you are given a room card, which opens your cabin. Funny thing is, they also tag your credit card with this room card. So, when you go to a restaurant or a gift shop and pick up something, the staff simply ask for your room card. The thing is, they ask you for your room card for some of the free stuff too. So, you have to be careful to know which one's paid for and which one's not. Anyway, after dinner, we stopped by to see this song and dance show. It was pretty good, especially the dancing. The singing just reminded me of American Idol and America's got Talent kinda shows where it is considered to be an insult if someone was judged to be good for cruise ships. We ended that night with one more round of eating, and retired for the night. Before sleeping, we stepped in to our balcony to see how the ocean looked like in the night. It was one of the most disconcerting views. It was a cloudy night which meant there was nothing to see for hundreds of miles. Thankfully, at the bottom of the ship, there were a few lights that showed us the water level. The weather was still pretty warm and humid. The ship's rocking motion was something that we were now getting used to. The motion was not too harsh to cause any sort of sea-sickness, but it was still pronounced enough to notice. I had a good night's sleep, not waking up even once. The bed was rather comfortable.

Day 1 of our Dec 2009 Vacation

Woke up at 9 a.m. at home, had dosas for breakfast, while I unplugged several chargers and packed them. I counted 9 batteries that we charged before leaving. I dumped some movies on my laptop for good measure. We contemplated having breakfast at ihop but ended up eating dosas and coconut chutney at home. Turned out to be a fantastic decision. Within the extra 30 mins that we stayed, the USPS delivery person showed up with my Canon 18-55 mm lens that I had ordered a while ago!! I had really given up hopes on getting this lens in time for my trip. That would have meant that I would not have any wide angle lens for the trip. I swear that just picked up my mood!!

We made a quick stop at walmart, picked up some essentials and went to the airport. We bumped in to someone from Columbus, that we knew (Joseph and Sangati) who happened to be flying with us for the first leg of the flight. We had a nice talk with them, till we had to part ways. Southwest airlines has a weird seating policy where you get to pick any seat of your choice based on the order in which you checked your luggage in. Since we checked-in only 2 hours earlier to the departure, we were pretty low on the boarding order. Consequently, our seats were not together. Oh well, just a 1 hour journey to Chicago. The next flight was better, we sat together but we slept most of that leg anyway! The air hostess was very nice to us. She offered us a drink after we woke up, since she missed us while we were sleeping. Next stop, Orlando!

Orlando was nice and warm when we arrived. It took us a good 45 mins to get out of the airport in our rental car. We went to our hotel, dropped of our luggage and drove to TGIF one of the few restaurants, that was open on Christmas eve, at 10 pm in the night. The waitress was once again nice to us, pointed out veggie dishes and made suggestions. Turned out to be a great dinner, even though I was not hungry :) That was way too much work for the first day of our vacation. Hoping for better days to follow.

Keeping up with the resolutions

Firstly, I am sorry for conjuring up images of a dysfunctional family that has now began to claw its way into main stream television by dating NBA and NFL stars. Secondly, I am kicked at being able to keep up with my resolutions so far. I know its a tall ask, but hey, I will take any credit I can give myself.

So, here's my entry about the "Dish a month (new)" or as my wife would exclaim each time she encouters this - "Damn!"

This month, I attempted a Vegetarian Quiche. I found its recipe on the web, while looking for dishes that can be made with feta cheese. Ironically, I ended up not using much feta cheese. I give myself a 6 on 10 for effort and taste, on this dish. It is one of the easiest things I have made in a while. Given that I have not cooked in a while, I would actually give myself a pat on the back for not screwing this up royally. I made this as a potato crust based quiche, with vegetable and cheese filling. It sounds rather yummy and would probably have been a lot better too. My first reaction was that it was too salty, but I realized later that the salt had not mixed well. My second reaction was that the potato had not baked uniformly, especially under the pie. So while, I had an overall good consistency, I would have liked it if the potato had solidified all around. The final thoughts I had were that this might have been a good dish but I had no reference to compare this to, and hence I declare this a success :)

An interesting thing happened when I popped the first piece into my mouth and realized it was a little salty. I turned to my wife who was also sampling her first piece and said

"Ok, my resolution said I have to cook a new dish every month but no one said it had to taste good. So I guess this cuts the bill"

Once again, without wasting a second, my wife chimed in with

"Of course, honey. No one said it had to taste good. I agree with you."

Back to the dentist

About six months ago, I made a trip to the dentist and wrote about it here. I set up a recurring appointment then, as my company paid for preventive cleaning done every six months. I went back recently, and had a similar experience to my first visit.

Firstly, a note to self : Make sure you wear good shoes before going to the dentist.

When you are standing normally, your trousers cover a good portion of your shoes and even if they are not, its a long way down for someone to be looking, if they wanted to see your shoes. At the dentist's office, when you are lying down, your feet are raised to little below the dentist's eye level. And if you are like me, wearing company shoes, that are rarely polished, then you know what I am talking about.

Anyway, back to my dentist experience - how do you differentiate between a yes and a no, when your mouth is wide open and you are trying to decide what to do your tongue so that it is not in the way of the dentist ? While I am trying my best, to keep up with this uncomfortable position, the dentist is whistling to himself happily and pops a question.

"So Phani, did you make any new resolutions this year ?"

"Uh..huh.."

"Oh yeah ? I will have to ask you what those are."

"What the hell ? With all the construction crew you have in my mouth ??"

"Let me rinse your mouth first."

So he proceeds to rinse my mouth and I tell him about my resolutions. All this while, he is holding some more equipment, looking rather impatient as if he would rather just get along with his work. After I finish, he thrusts more tools into my mouth (oops I just made an inappropriate joke, didn't I ?). As I lie down, he asks almost immediately

"So what book are you reading now ?"

"Err...??"

"Yes, I know. Let me wait till I rinse you again"

This went on a couple of more times. Lesson learnt. Next time the dentist asks me questions, I will answer in a way, that leaves no room for follow-up questions.

"Did you make any new year resolutions ?"

"No"

"No ? Why not ?"

(shrugs shoulders) "uhh.."

Fiction: The way home

He glanced at his watch nervously as he pedaled faster. His glasses were beginning to get misty from his perspiration but he did not stop to clean them. He could see the road as a blur and he was fine with it. He knew that not many people would be on this road this late in to the night. Not this road. Not this late.

Earlier in the evening, his supervisor asked him to stay late and finish the accounts for the month. Naresh noted that the supervisor did not really ask him if it was alright with him. He just told him to stay late and finish the work. He knew very well that Naresh did not really have a life after work. A poor engineer who chose to work for pittance, managing accounts of a rice mill had desperation written all over it. The supervisor never hesitated to take advantage of Naresh's situation. Naresh could not afford to lose the job but he could not really think of leaving late for his house. Sivayya, the old sweeper, stroke Naresh's hair as he sat down at the varendah.

"If I were you, I would get working soon and get home soon. I have told you this before too but that road is not safe in the night. It passes through the muncipal graveyard. Bodies are flung over there and barely buried or cremated. If you don't respect the dead..."

"I know Sivayya!" Naresh interrupted angrily. He was easily scared. He recollected the one time at school when he had forgotten his notebook in the biology lab and had to go back alone to pick it up. The room with the skeleton in it. How he felt that something was watching him..

"Don't forget to lock up before you leave. And I am going to look through it the first thing in the morning".

The supervsior left looking at the heavens and thanking God for yet another profitable day.

Naresh went over the evening in his mind, to keep it occupied. He kept pedalling faster, hoping that the next 30 minutes would pass by soon. As he approached the graveyard, he felt a sharp pain crawling up his calf muscle. He felt like he was about to cry from the pain. He shook his leg for a second and got back to pedaling. He tried to keep his eyes focused on the road while trying to stay aware of anything else. He tried to think happy thoughts, he did not want to show fear. However, he kept thinking about the graveyard and what Sivayya said. He considered ringing the bell, to block out other sounds. But he was afraid he would attract the dogs...or worse. The pain in his leg worsened. He kept reminding himself that he would soon be out of the graveyard. His eyes were moist. He could not tell if it was tears or sweat. Wincing from the pain in his leg, he kept pedalling on. The cycle seemed to inch forward slowly. It was not that he was going uphill but he was not moving as fast as he wanted. It felt like something was tugging at his cycle from behind but he did not want to turn back and look. He gave out a loud scream and pedalled away. As he neared the end of the graveyard he heard a dog yelping behind him. It sounded like he was in pain. Naresh did not turn back and look, he was glad that the worst was behind him. He heaved a sigh of relief and eased the pressure on his leg.

That was when the cycle jerked forward and stopped. He almost fell of the cycle but he put his leg down quickly and yelled out in pain. The sudden transfer of weight on to his leg made him let out his fear in terms of his screams. He got off the cycle and rubbed his leg quickly. Without glancing around, he tried to find out what happened. The cycle chain had eased off the wheel. He fumbled with the chain, hurting his fingers as he tried to fix it. His eye caught a white figure in a distance. He rubbed his eye thinking it was something in his eye. When he put his glasses back on, he realised that he was not alone. The lady in the white saree was staring at him fixatedly. She was not angry or sad. She seemed surprised to see him there. Something about her expression made him relax. She approached him as if she were in a hurry. He backed off and lost his balance.

"Excuse me, may I ask you for something ?"

"Um..yeah sure"

"I live about 5 minutes from here. My father dropped his money purse here on his way home. I came to look for it and it got late by the time I found it. Would you mind walking with me till my home ? It is quite late, and I am hesitant to walk by myself."

Naresh felt a smile creeping across his face. All his life he had been a coward. The easily scared Naresh. People got a kick out of planning out elaborate pranks for him. He could never walk alone in the dark. But, here was someone who was asking him to be with her, so that she could feel reassured. He felt himself taking a deep breath and a cool breeze blowing across his face.

"One minute. I heard a dog yelping in the back. Let me go see if it is in pain." he said, before walking back in to the graveyard.