Hit & Run

Returned from my trip to Worcester, MA only to find my car damaged. It was parked at the Thrifty Car Rental parking lot, as my co-workers and I rented a car for our business trip. So, my car was involved in a hit-and-run in the parking lot!
I spoke to the owner of the car rental business to work out some details but it's a long story.
My car insurance ended up covering the damage and since I'm in Vermont and it was a hit-and-run, I didn't have to pay any deductible. The damage was around USD$600.00.

Microsoft Tech Briefing - Worcester, MA

Scenes before and during the Microsoft Technology Briefing in Worcester, MA. The Hampton Inn is where we stayed, Ninety Nine Restaurant is where we had dinner, and Starbucks where we got out caffeine. Ahhhh.............
The conference was on December 6, 2006.

By the way, Worcester is pronounced, "Woos-ter" and not
"War-ches-ter"!!

The Boys in Worcester

Mark, Gordon, and I attended the Microsoft Technology Briefing in Worcester, MA on December 6. This conference was organized by NERCOMP. We left Burlington on December 5th and returned on the 6th after the conference.

I have to say that Mark sucks at directions despite having all the necessary technology in his possession. He had a GPS unit suction-cupped to the windshield, which then plugged into his laptop. We had live satellite data using Microsoft Streets and Maps which showed us very accurate information on where we were actually located or moving to. Despite all of this, he would still tell me to turn left, when I should turn right, or go West, when I should go East. He also told me to go straight when the voice-activated GPS system told us to turn right in 12 meters! Guess what, the computer was right!

We might have only gone for one day, but it felt like a week! I now understand why he got lost in Boston when he was there on vacation with his family. Believe it or not, he was using his GPS system then too. Yup, the problem is not with the technology but with the operator. Apparently, the brain lobes did not triangulate like the satellites did. Oh well, I still love him!

Brrrr......Cold Laundry!

My wife loves to dry the laundry on the clothesline whenever she gets the chance. She'll even hang them out when the temperature is below zero and I have made the clothesline another area to clear when I snowblow the driveway.
Believe it or not, the clothes do dry instead of freezing in below zero temperatures. Actually, they do freeze like rocks but the dry air evaporates them and makes the clothes smell nice and fresh.

Holy Smile, Please!!

My daughter, Sabrina, took a picture of me taking a picture of her outside of a Gurdwara (a Sikh temple) in Mississauga. On the last day of our visit at my Mom's, she asked me to go with her to the temple. I generally don't go but she had been insisting for a few days, and I thought I'd do that for her. My Mom is quite religious and she prays all the time, especially for her children.
I'm blessed to be blessed by my Mom.
Thanks Mom.

Future Photographer

Sabrina loves taking pictures. I gave her one of my older digital cameras and she enjoys capturing interesting pictures with it. It's quite a joy to see her creativity and talents through the camera lens and to see her perspective of the world. She is actually pretty good at taking pictures and I guess she has learnt well from me. I have yet to show her how to shoot with my Nikon DSLR and teach her about aperture, shutter speed, depth-of-field, and other photography intricacies. But I guess, I'm pushing it and am little over excited.
It'll be fun to have a father-daughter photography day!

Around Brampton, Ontario

These are some scenes from around the city of Brampton, Ontario, where my Mom and sister, Ranie reside. My other sister, Vinie is in Mississauga, which is just next door!
There's a lot of diversity in the Toronto area. You'll find ethnic groups from all over the world, and it's food and culture everywhere. The Indian population is huge and has skyrocketed in just a few years. No amount of snow can make it white with so much brown there! :-)
It's nice to visit Toronto from time to time. It gives me and my kids a chance to embrace the culture, religion, language, food, smell, entertaintment, music, and movies. Ahhhh.......good time to soak up some brown!!

More pictures from our Toronto visit on FLICKR.

Sunset in Brampton

I took a drive around the neighborhood one evening to capture these sunset shots.

Good Morning, Ms. Dhaliwal!

My younger sister, Vinie is a 3rd Grade teacher at an elementary school in Mississauga, Ontario. We visited her classroom on the first day we arrived in Toronto. I got a speeding ticket on the way there, and you can read my post about it.
If you look at the pictures of the kids in my sister's class, you will see they come from various ethnic groups. She has some Indian, Chinese, African-American, Middle Eastern, and many more. Diversity at it's best!