California Academy of Sciences - a day trip

This post was done in a rush. Now that it is friday night and it is just me and the laptop and a movie choice gone bad, there is scope to describe this day trip in pictures!

First, a view of the "Rainforest dome" from the outside. You walk on a ramp around the dome (inside the dome) and you have display cases with flora/fauna that is seen around certain heights within the forest, starting with creatures like ants, toads, etc. that are at ground level, then you go up a little further and see tree frogs and snakes, birds and lizards, go futher up and see butterfliers. It is just plain amazing, the way they set up this dome.

The pitcher plant, which eats insects! Reminded me of 8th grade biology class where we heard about this the first time...

30 feet up?

Blue and red tree frogs, the size of quarters!

Fruits that were new..

Aquariums around the bend (which did not fit the altitude logic) but were nicely displayed. They had flora and fauna from Costa Rica and Madagascar.

This snake was creepy. It's head looked like a leaf. The camouflage was amazing.

There were colorful tropical birds living in the trees inside the dome! The only irritating thing was the change you go through. Outside the CAS, San Francisco temperatures were in the low 50's. Inside this dome, it was at least in the mid 80's. The end result, you get to carry the camera and three or four fluffy jackets as you make your way through the dome. They should have a coat rack just outside the dome!

Some of the lizards and geckos we saw were really amazing. Have never seen these in your typical zoo's!

More butterflies, big ones!

Yes, you do see human heads below the water and that is a big fish!

You get out of the rainforest through the bottom, where there is a giant tank of water above your head with 6 foot fish swimming over head. Then you get a taste of aquatic life, not as impressive as the Monterey bay aquarium, but a very diverse selection.

The piranah move fast, what can I say!

This display was really eye catching! They made little waves inside the display.

There are two other impressive sections of the CAS. One is the displays as you enter the place which is a museum with a focus on stuffed animals, birds, eco friendliness, recycling etc. This part is like a mini Smithsonian!

Yeah.. it is pretty lame taking pictures of stuffed birds through glass cages.. maybe someday after retirement, there will be a chance to take pictures of these in the wild?!

You come out of this section and go to the last part (which we saw.. there is also a Planetarium in this place which was filled up, and we missed that!) Out of Africa!

The idea was to take a picture with my head using the skulls on the wall as reference. We did not expect Homowildus Sapiens aka the Little One to crash the photo op. She almost ripped the board out and tried to push me out. Must have been due to the presence of all the other wild creatures around her!

The way they did the displays was amazing. The plants were real. The environs to keep these weird and rare plants live were real! Hats off to these folk for coming up with such displays!

More stuffed animals, birds (once again resembles the Smithsonian) with the exception of a live Penguin exhibit and they fed the penguins to show everyone how wildlife conservation works. It was also a nice sales pitch for the CAS.

You take a little bit of the Smithsonian, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Reptile House at the Philadelphia Zoo, pieces of the San Diego zoo and what you have is the CAS.

The kids loved it but more than that, if you want to spend a day indoors, learn new things, and be entertained, this is a perfect place.

ps. Yes, we know there is Flickr, etc. for posting 30 pictures. The kids love to read travelogs of their day trips during dinner time. We show the kids to the penguins during feeding time in the CAS and the penguins to the kids during feeding time at home. It all works out!

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Living in Caliyuga with a capital C

It was my brother who coined the term Caliyuga!

If some IT dude in the bay area threw a stone here, the ripple (a big one) would be felt in Bangalore and Chennai, was his observation. It goes beyond IT. Looks like this place controls the economy, was a relatives observation.

However, all that is possibly hoopla, after this recent conversation between me and Harshad Bhai, our local desi grocer.

Me : Ab sona masoori rice kitne ka hai?
HB : 41 $ for the 20 lb bag
Me : aap sentence ke peeche "!!" bhool gaye (actually that is not what I said)
Me : aise he "casually" bolthe hai 41$
HB : kya kare. New Jersey mein bhi yahi daam hai! do teen hafte me sona masoori milega hi nahin...
Me : (to San) put that rice back. This is BS. when everyone stops buying this at 41 bucks, they will drop the price!
HB : gives me a smile that would put any all knowing smile to shame (even the one on the krishna who is smiling at Arjuna on this Gita photo nearby!). Aap koi doosra rice try keegiye?!
Me : pandra beez dollar pe koyi rice nahin hai kya?
HB : ek do hai. 25$ kaa.
Me : ye walla?
HB : nahin. woh scented rice hai thailand kaa. bachche pasand nahin karenge.. yeh laxmi kaa le legiye..
Me : chota saa 10 lb bag le jaata hoon.. try karenge aur uske baad achcha lage toh 20 lb lenge..
HB : woh 10 lb kaa bahut mehanga padega appko. Jasmine rice hai! Yeh Laxmi Indian rice try keejiye. Sab yahi leke jaa rahe hai.
Me : all thrilled that at last there is one Indian rice that is under 30 bucks for 20 pound bag... "deejiye deejiye!"

So far the kids have actually adjusted to this rice, but the adults cannot even eat half the rice. We end up wasting rice or making some koozhu out of it.

Here is an apology to god, my mother, my wife, my mother in law, all my aunts who fed me for all those years, especially my Raji mami who would beg me not to waste rice when I was a teenager..

I am sorry!

Should have known better that good rice would be so hard to get!

What would it take for a few of us living in california to start cultivating some paddy here ? Apparently (or so the lady at Yamagami nursery tells me), the soil here is so fertile that anything will grow here and it is clayeeeeeee too !

You bring the tractors, I bring the mundasu to tie on our heads and off we can go farming...

Hmmm.. I am getting visions of San in that village girl costume, the one that looks like a capri version of the madisaar saree, bringing me lunch on her head, just like in those old tamizh movies...

farming actually sounds nice, right about now!

ps. as a tamlish writer, the hindlish transliteration may not be that good.. read it in Hindi with a Tamizh accent and it will make sense. For those of you wondering why does this dude write in Hindlish, the four most important years of my life were spent in Banaras! It is where this Tamlish Boy grew up to become a Hindlish man...

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Point Reyes Lighthouse

If there was a place that captures "Are we there yet?", it is the Point Reyes Lighthouse.

You start seeing signs for the lighthouse a good 21 miles away and the adults and kids start asking "are we there yet?" and after driving and driving and more driving, you finally get to the "ledge".

Then of course there is the climb down to one of the most amazing lighthouses we have seen! How they built this thing on the mountain face is just beyond me.

The coastline is just spectacular from the top of Point Reyes.

Here are the stitch shots.

The lessons here... when aiming to complete the grid with a shot of the sky, the focus went hunting.. should keep it to manual focus as well going forward.

Please note, these are not taken with a camera with "stitch mode" where you get to see a side by side screen split on your LCD! (the old S30 used to do that and stitching was so easy). These pictures are being taken with a Canon EOS 400D and I have to remember where the previous shot ends and the next one begins. Just using the old software to glue them together! Now that all the technicalities are out of the way... here!

Here is the vertical stitch that missed the sky because of focus hunting (there were 12 photos.. 3 vertical sets of 4.. but!!!!! incomplete.. someday when I compile all these composite shots, there will be a "best known method" that works consistantly)

The magnificent California coastline...


and finally, the girls on a bench on top, enjoying the breeze!


A memorable trip. Should go there again in nine more years and see what the experience is like!

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Hands free

As most of you might or might not know (there, I have covered all options) starting midnight, no driving with a phone to your ear in California!

The rule is simple. You can use the phone to dial out. You just cannot talk while driving, unless you are on speaker phone, or you use a "hands free" device!

Apparently the wise powers that be, in the Great state of California, have decided that this law, is going to make the roads safe, or at least, safer.

Word on the street was that the local electronics stores and Costcos were seeing long lines, with the hands free "bluetooth" devices selling like hot cakes. So, checked out a few options today and bought devices for myself and San. After the purchase and during the drive home, the mind wandered "free", and asked a lot of questions, aided by the various things observed in passing.

1. Why would it be okay to dial a phone (when you are hands and eye free) but not okay to talk?

2. Why would it be okay to drink "Starbucks" coffee and drive with one hand, but not hold a phone and drive? Could it be because promoting hands free devices, forces people to go to the store and buy a product which otherwise would be a novelty? and starbucks has not yet come up with a Handsfree drinking mechanism?

3. Could I come up with say, a hat that has a lining where you pour your starbucks coffee and there is an automatic straw that goes into your mouth for "hands free" sipping?

4. would I make a killing in the stock market if I patent such hat and straw?

5. The girl who just nearly missed the signal, being busy with her makeup and hair brushing (and who also pissed off half a dozen drivers behind her on the left turn only lane) would still be a danger on the road. How can we do "hands free" makeup?

6. Based on an average device making 30% gross margin, with the average device selling for 40 bucks, someone out there is making a lot of money this week?

7. How much did those guys pay, to get this law passed?

8. Why are there so many cops on the road today? Are they practicing for tomorrow?

9. If 1/3rd of the drivers with cell phones are safe, and 1/3rd have purchased the devices and paid their dues, the other 1/3rd will pay the fine to the highway patrol and the state government. How much will the State make?

10. Who the hell makes these rules anyways? We are supposed to work more, be more efficient, multitask to the point that dudes are talking to themselves in restrooms while peeing! No seriously, saw this today where it appeared the guy was talking to his thing.. because he looked down and was talking! Then when he was washing his hands, noticed that he had this earpiece on his right ear (which was not visible to me, when I was standing next to him).

For some reason, he thought it prudent to lower his voice in the restroom, which it made it all the more spooky. Thought he was whispering terms of endearment to his little guy! How then in a world where this happens, are we to stay away from cell phones?

11. Already Brahmin boys have to deal with pulling their "poonal", put it around their ears when they go "pee pee". What would happen to a Tambram boy who is wearing a poonal, spectacles, and a hands free? What if the whole thing gets into one tangled mess around his right ear and it all rips loose on the urinal?

12. Why didn't I buy stock in handsfree device companies a year ago? Why? Why? Why? Could have at least made money there, to compensate for what was spent today!

13. Will they actually collect impartial data over the next month or so and publish it to show if this rule actually reduced accident rates?

14. Will they actually share information, on how much money was made in fines and hands free earpiece sales over the next month?

15. Does the I-phone Junta have some cool out of the world device, that makes the cyborg looking thing I bought, look out of date? Is there an I-Free?

etc. etc. etc.

Came home grumpy, knowing that yet again, the average dude is still an average dude. A person who can only feel powerless against a law making machinery that takes ones tax dollars and finds new ways to screw him.

As soon as I entered the house though, the little one and Jr. cheered me up, with their "hands free" hugging. The little one jumped on me, clung tight like "boots the monkey" and said "Don't hold me daddy. Don't hold me with your hands. Keep walking. I keep huggy-ing you!"

Now that is one hands free, that more than makes up for all those other thoughts.

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LEGOLAND - Photoblog

Yes. There is a theme park dedicated to the little plastic blocks kids play with.

If you have not seen it, do not miss it. I have been in California for almost a decade now and have always missed this park when we go to San Diego. Have crossed the exit several times and wondered what it was all about! Add to that, the fact that many of my friends and colleagues give this place a two thumbs up, this time we decided to take Jr. and the little one on a short trip to LEGOLAND.

The photos say it all! Everything here is just plain amazing. We had a daunting task to get food into Jr. and we accomplished it only because the place relaxed her. Most of the rides are not scary.

We went on this animal safari ride with Lego animals. The little one waited patiently in line for 45 minutes zipping and unzipping her jacket, only to be kicked out at the end for being vertically challenged.

Jr., who refused to go on any ride was forced in as a last minute substitution and she actually had a change of heart. She got out saying "that was fun. can we do that again"!

This also meant that grandma had to adopt some Chinese kid as her "binami" grandson for the ride. Apparently the kid really liked her!

Here are some of the legonimals..

The next thing was a boat ride that covered all the books! Truly amazing..Jr. guessed all the stories!

Then there was the place which really got Jr. smiling.. Fun Town, aptly named.

She even drove a car by herself and they gave her a fake drivers license! She loved it.

A word of caution though. Most rides, however trivial they are require 34 inch height minimum which the little one missed by an inch or inch and a half. It is really not her fault that her parents dont have viking genes in them. Kids younger then her were getting on all the rides and she had to sit out for almost everything.

Then there was this out of place pirate thing, with rides for adults. The kids enjoyed talking to the pirate...

Finally some teasers for the adults. They have this place called Mini World which has miniature models of everything from the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel tower to Golden gate bridge.. not to mention an entire las vegas strip and Washington DC.

You have to see it to believe it..

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