Achievements and lessons...

I was recently asked to fill up a self appraisal form at work, and one of the questions in the questionnaire included, "list your achievements for this review period." Well, for those who know me realize that my joy knew no bounds. Me, ahem ahem..being the humble man I am, decided to open up to my boss to list the achievements and just when I was about to start typing, economy struck me with an e-mail. The e-mail, from super-boss, claimed that there would be no more raises and bonuses in the eras to come. Realizing the futility of this endeavor only made my motivation to fill up paperwork disappear like I used when my mom would find some work for me during summer vacation. Now that there was no impetus to pen my achievements during the 8 hours I spend behind bits and bytes of my creation, I decided to use this loaded pen to list on and off-work achievements along with fruits of wisdom I have gathered in this review period. Again, those who know me realize that, if any one of capable of gathering these acorns of wisdom, that person is me. Here is the list...

* Achievement: Worked for 12 straight hours without any breaks or without actually realizing that I worked for 12 hours
Lesson learned: Nothing should be so engaging so as make you use a glue stic instead of chapstic on your lips

* Achievement: Made awesome vegetable and chicken biryani
Lesson learned: The test for checking if the heating element on the stove is hot is definitely NOT touching it

* Achievement: A record time for climbing down 4 floors
Lesson learned: Do NOT jump the last step, for if you miss it, you might just sprain your ankle

* Achievement: Benched 150lbs for 10 reps
Lesson learned: Do NOT eat bean and nachos for lunch on the day you want to bench 150lbs. It might just result in the most embarrassing fart on the first rep, and the girl you were talking to in the gym, will stop talking to you, forever

and Finally

* Achievement: Climb 9 floors of a building 10 times with a 20lbs sack on your back
Lesson learned: Find something better to do when you are bored

Yet another beautiful day...

Its the journey, and heck yeah, the destination too...

The weekend was nice. Well, it was more than nice. I was really excited to spend time with friend from eighth grade. I think its been 13 years since I met Sheetal. As a bonus, this weekend, I got meet her and her husband, Vinod. To make life more exciting, the vehicle that took me to Dallas, about 220 miles from Austin, was my dear blue ninja 650.

I was eager to experience the long interstate and the country roads. On the way to Dallas, chose to stick to I35. For most of the time, I was focusing on keeping myself alive. And then I reached Dallas county line. From there on, I was focusing on getting from 1st gear to the 2nd. Oh My God! The traffic sucked. At one point, traffic came to a stand still and I was on I35, with my engine switched off waiting for life to move on. For some weird reason, not sure why, but I decided to get down from my bike, remove my helmet and stretch a bit. To be noted, I am in the middle lane of an interstate...siigh, and then suddenly, the traffic on the right lane and left lane moved an inch, and guess who decides to move in as my neighbors. Two frigging 18 wheeled semis, with the drivers staring down at me trying to figure out what I was doing. Trust me, you dont how big these are till you are standing next to your bike in the middle of an interstate and they happen to be your neighbours. It was such a surreal feeling...

Well, the big picture is that I reached Dallas in one peice. Phew...

I wisened up on the way back. Decided to take country roads shown in the map on the left. I wasn't disappointed. Texas country side is pretty, real pretty. Curvy roads, pretty sunset, farms with cows and horses, nice people, bikers trying to go at 160, and more cows and horses, a few lakes,...no sir, I definitely was not disappointed. To end the trip, I stopped at Teji's at round rock on the way back and picked up some spicy biryani.

I do regret not having a small camera to take with me on such trips. I would have loved to take pictures of street names such as, moody breeding ave, take pictures of cows and horses in front of a setting sun, and yes, the two semis surrounding me :-)

Yes, I am glad to be back home safe and sound, thinking of how far I am going to push myself on my bike...next trip, Denver maybe?

As I got back, I realized it was the journey, not just the destination that I have to talk, feel and smile about.

P.S. Bangalore to Chennai and back = 662KM (398 miles)
Austin to Dallas and back = 747KM (450 miles)