Ring of Fire

"Love Is A Burning Thing

And It Makes A Firery Ring

Bound By Wild Desire

I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire

I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire

I Went Down, Down, Down

And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns

The Ring Of Fire

The Ring Of Fire

The Taste Of Love Is Sweet

When Hearts Like Ours Meet

I Fell For You Like A Child

Ohh, But The Fire Went Wild

And It Burns, Burns, Burns

The Ring Of Fire

The Ring Of Fire"

Saturday!

Saturday was good fun! We decided over a couple of beers (and chicken, thanks to ramakanth!) that we would go to Ming's on Saturday. We decided to leave at 11:45 in the morning to catch the :55 bus that would take us there.

Reached Ming's at around 12:25, only find that there were atleast 30-40 people waiting already (btw, Ming's has lunch buffet for $8). After getting a table, we attacked! Of course, we were impressed by the lo meins and chickens and shrimps and what nots, but what really took the "cake" was the fruits! Yes, fruits of different variety (they looked so exotic!). I must confess that I ate something other than apples and bananas for the very first time ( in America, that is). Water Melon, Papaya, Kiwi Fruit, Grapes - you name it , they had it!

This is my fifth plate *sheepish*. I could not finish the fruits.

The effect of excess food was very much visible. Hrushi was the first to bite the dust.

We survived! And woke up Hrushi for a "group photo" (thank you Ms. Waitress).

It was time to go back home. We were waiting for the bus somewhere near the restaurant, thinking that the bus would come at :30. It was damn windy, so we decided to do something really stupid to get a good laugh and to keep our asses warm.

Well, initially it was just another "photo session".

And then the "fun" part started.

That's it! We came back home and crashed out:).

Point to Ponder

Have you ever wondered how dependent we are on the Internet?

This thought just came to me while I was surfing the Internet. The answer obviously is: "Very Dependent". But why? Why is it that we always log on to the Internet whenever we need information? Why don't we go to the library and sift through all the books available? Why don't we look into the tons of magazines and journals anymore?

Are we happy to know that we get what we want within a few minutes?

Of course we are. The internet is as big as the milky way - maybe even bigger. And smart tools like Google do us a favor by giving us the most relevant information. But don't you think our life has become too mechanical with the genesis of the Internet? Picture this. You wake up one fine day, only to read in the newspaper that the Internet is dead. Kiss it goodbye. Isn't that scary? Do you think you would then make the effort to go to libraries and collect information. You would probably mourn the death of the Internet for many days, thinking about all the good things you used to get easily."He was a good man", as they say.

I realized that libraries are good fun when I sat down to write the summary of an article from the Harvard Business Review. Old habits die hard, so I started by logging on to the Milner Website. When I found the article, I started reading it - only to find that an article 20 pages long is a big pain in the eyes when read on the monitor. I then went to the fourth floor of Milner and got the HBR from one of the shelves. That is when I figured out that pre-historic concepts like "reading in the library" have not lost their charm. And they are good fun!

Internet is good. But don't depend too much on it. There are many people on this planet who don't. And probably they never will.

HP - Way To Go!

HP employees have a reason to smile. Not just because HP's profit increased by 30%, but because they feel that finally they have a boss who they can look up to. Mark Hurd, it seems, is seen mostly "inside" the HP headquarters in Palo Alto, unlike his predecessor who was a frequent traveller and a prominent speaker in major seminars and conferences around the world ( a little bird told me that she has a personal " make-up lady", who accompanies her wherever she goes!). Thanks to cost cutting and structural changes in the organization, HP seems to be back on track. Also, HP seems to be performing well even in the "non printer" segment. Its PC unit revenues rose by 8% as compared to last year and its Storage and Server unit produced revenues of $4.2 billion.

HP's performance was not really up to the mark after the controversial HP-Compaq merger (It seems that Dave Packard's son, who is also a Director in HP oppesed the merger). Compaq stakeholders were looking forward to the merger, but HP stakeholders were not. Anyway, that is history, and under Mark Hurd, I am sure HP is gonna go places.

Bollywood Trivia

Trivia for everybody....

Do you know the full names of "Amar" and "Prem" in Andaz Apna Apna??

Gimme answers!

Batao Batao...Taell Taell!!

Bloomington-Normal

I opened my blog today to post something really interesting about Bloomington-Normal, only to see a freakish comment in my previous post by none other than victimofdesire , my good friend. Victim - to hell with you. Do you really think I am that inept? Well, the answer to my own question is - No. I am very talented and capable (when it comes to lighting cigarettes, that is). I don't know about the other things in life.
Alright, let me get back to my senses and do what I really want to do.

Did you know that....

• Bloomington-Normal was home to the first Steak 'n Shake in the world. It was located at Main and Virginia streets, south of Illinois State University and north of Illinois Wesleyan University. But because it lay in a flood plane, the company opted to close the restaurant at that location in 1999. A new restaurant to replace it was built near Main Street and Raab Road.
• You could say Bloomington-Normal is a Hollywouldbe. In TV and movies in recent years ISU and IWU have educated, among others, John Malkovich, Gary Cole ("The Brady Bunch movie"), Laurie Metcalf ("Roseanne"), Judith Ivey ("The Five Mrs. Buchanans,") comedian-director Robert Townsend and actress Alison LaPlaca (what say victim, eh? ;)).
• The Eureka Company of Bloomington made the first electric vacuum cleaner in 1901. They later did hush-hush work for the Pentagon during World War II, including making bomb sites.
• Abe Lincoln purchased his hard-to-find size 14 shoes at a cobbler's on the downtown Bloomington square.
• Stand on the top floor of ISU's Watterson Towers - it's that huge concrete thing on the south side of the campus - and you are at the highest point in Illinois between Chicago and St. Louis (wow!).
• If you would opt to walk all the sidewalks on the ISU campus, you would put in 19 1/2 miles (hmmm...interesting).
• The president of Major League Baseball's American League is Gene Budig, an ex-ISU president.
• ISU has a higher percentage of minority students that any other institution in Illinois. Wesleyan on the other hand, was the first college west of the Appalachians to admit black students.
• If you trace the origins of the VISA card, it would lead you back to Bloomington. McLean County Bank, now Magna Bank, originated the charge card whose letters stand for Vacation Insurance Savings Account. The concept was sold to BankAmericard ( I got VISA power...now you go get it!).
• The Twin Cities ranks third as a teachers' training center (I think it's kinda ironic...dumb students like me in a city known for teachers' training).
• Next time you listen to the old Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, "Lookin' Out My Back Door" and hear the opening line "...just got back from Illinois," John Fogerty was referring to Heyworth, just south of Bloomington.
• Hugh Hefner spent his childhood summers in Lexington, just north of Bloomington (aaaaeeeeccch!!!...ain't he your inspiration guys??!!).
• The farmland around Bloomington-Normal ranks among the top three areas in all the world for corn and soybean production. Ironically, the Twin Cities have seven streets named after fruits (Cherry, Apple, Bayberry, etc.) but none after vegetables .
• Bloomington's Kathryn Beich candies, a division of Nestles, owns the Guinness Book record for manufacturing the world's largest candy bar. The dream dimensions for chocoholics - 25 feet long, 6 1/2 feet wide, 7 5/8 inches thick and 7,200 glorious pounds.
• Rudyard Kipling's wife was born here.
• John Malkovich once feigned drowning at Lake Bloomington so convincingly, a rescue team was sent out to get him.
• The rock group, "Skid Row" once ordered 100 pizzas here.
• WWF wrestler Randy "Macho King" Savage once checked himself into Bromenn Regional Medical Center.

Source: Pantagraph