Monday night – boiled beans

It’s so nice being back in Bangalore.. not much has changed Well.. one thing that has changed is that I see the more use of the new/old spelling of the city which is Bangaluru which means “boiled beans”. Wouldn’t it be cool to live in a place called boiled beans. ? ( I spoke to a women in my new department who lives in Oatmeal, TX)

So.. all in all it’s been a great trip so far though it got off to a bit of a rocky start. I got in an hour late this morning (4AM).. and my bag didn’t make it. This nice guy helped me locate the bag.. which was still in Abu Dhabi.. He did notice that Thursday was my birthday and wished me a happy birthday. He was helpful and happy at 5AM.. I love the people here. !

 

here’s me in the cab..  at 5:30 am.. I got to the hotel and caught 4 hours of sleep.. t

then my ride picked me up and drove through the colorful chaos of Bangluru   ..

After a great afternoon of work.. seeing many freinds, My buddy Govind and I had dinner at one of the Hotel’s restaurants.. A South Indian place I’ve eaten in several times.. it was very tasty.. we ate on banana leaves just like we did at Chandu’s sister’s house warming a few years back.

We ate these cool rice flour pancakes.. appam .. I think they’re called

There was live music at the restaurant.. very nice place !

After dinner we had pan.. it’s a betel leaf surrounding cut up betel nut, spices and lime (not as in citrus as in calcium oxide) .. good for digestion.. and wonderful disgusting to eat.. i love it

Govind went home around 9.. I walked him out.. here’s my hotel by dark

 

 

 

Now jet lag is seeping in.. I’ll end here for the night

more tomorrow

nite all, nite sam

-me

February 6, 2012 | | Tags: | No Comments »

Sundayish evening – Salaam from Abu Dhabi

Greetings from the spotless floors of Abu Dhabi Airport.

The flight over was good !.. We went up over Greenland and Iceland then down through Russia, Turkey then down through the Gulf. The plane was packed.. but brand new.. Edihad Airlines.. never flown them.. but I recommend them now.

I had the good fortune to sit next to a really nice guy.. Chandarsan.. He’s a research microbiologist at Columbia . Before that he was an expert in Brewing. He’s worked all over the wheel. In his native Sri lanka in  Belgium, Japan , New Zealand, New Orleans, New Jersey and New York.. (Always looking for soemthing ‘New’ he says with a smile).

His early work was on the science of brewing. His PhD thesis on Belgium Lambic beers is cited in many brew books include. Michael Jackson’s (not THAT michael Jackson !) Bible of Home Brewing which I have somewhere. We spent many hours talking about microflora of various beers.. It made the miles melt by..

But what’s most cool is that his daughter, Sonali goes to the University of Vermont.. Small planet.

What time I didn’d spend talkign to my seat mate or sleeping (> 6 hours !).. I spent listening to someone readoing Qurran on the airplane in seat sound system  and watching ‘Breakfast at Tiffanys’.

I knew the movie (and that stupid song about it).. but I’ve never gotten around to watching it.. until tonight ..   It was great and charming and stupid in the same way the Maryln Monroe movies that Chris was showing last (?) night at his event.   So much to catch up on in the world, no ?

Now I’m just waiting for my plane to bangalore..in the Airport transit lounge.  The place is beautiful, gleamingly clean and full of beutiful people  window showing for beautiful things at places like  Bulgary , Gevinchy. Burburry.. This must be the wealthiest Airport in the world. I’ve never been to Abu Dhabi or anywhere else in the UAE.. but I’d like to see it. On the way here they were showing videos that made the place seem like paradise.

I tried finding the lesat commercial spot to place a Samstone. The place I found was a Red C resent Donation  box. I made a donation then placed the stone behind it. Welcome to UAE Sam..

OK.. I need to get up and walk a bit before my flight.. More form the road later..

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

ps. Max sent me some pictures of his latest project.. It’s a giant rear projection conformal mask.It’s a prop he’s building for a NYC bar. . Check it out !  Cool.eh ?

February 5, 2012 | | Tags: | 1 Comment »

Saturday evening – Traveling

Greetings from JFK airport. I’m off to a week in India. Excited about the trip because I’ll see so many friends. India is one of my favorite places to visit. it’s so alive and crazy and overpowering.. colors, smells, languages.. I love it. I just saw that its going to be 90 degrees there later in the week. Not looking forward to that.. but overall hope it’s fun.
Hmm.. not really much to report today. Hard to top yesterdays opportunity to dress up like Marilyn Monroe. I’m sitting at an airport restaurant awaiting a flight to Abu Dhabi . I’m watching CNN flicker on the TV set here.. without the sound it looks ridiculous,. They have been talking about the Nevada Republican caucus for the 45 minutes I’ve been here.. and have apparently stretched that 30 seconds of mildly interesting news into nearly an hour of repeating shots, talking heads and non-statistics. i can only imagine what it’s like with sound. making me pretty glad we don’t have TV at home.
hey looks like we’re about to board… more from Abu Dhabi

nite all, nite sam
-me

February 4, 2012 | | Tags: | No Comments »

Friday night – The Monroe Doctrine

You know, somethings are just too hard to explain.. but I’ll try. Tonight our good friend Chris put on his ‘Monroe Doctrine’ project.. Unlike the first Monroe Doctrine.. this was not a piece of stuffy legislation designed to prevent acts of colonization on US shores.. This was much simpler. Chris invited all of his friends to come up and dressed up like Marlyn Monroe, stand in Chris’s steam punk shower.. and try to hold your dress down as a huge gust of air tries to lift it as in this well know scene in the movie ‘Some like it hot’

All while Chris’s friend Matt took pictures and Gabe toke time lapse and video..

OK.. i told you it was hard to explain… but that what we did.. I’m guessing about 30 of us showed up to show off our legs.. Girls, guy.. all were invited.. and.. let me just say.. it wasn’t pretty .. But man, was it fun

 

Why did we do it ? I don’t know.. maybe it’s because Chris is a genius.. or because we’re all nuts.. or both.
I guess the real question is.. why didn’t we do it before ?

nite all, nite sam
-me

| | Tags: | No Comments »
« Older Entries