If you have HBO, you have to check out their new series “The life and times of Tim”
Fun
Insipirational text..
Got this from a colleague
Subj : BUTTERFLY
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly! – So embrace those struggles that come your way, become stronger and soar higher.
Week 16 training and my first outdoor camping trip
After the rough 20 miler last weekend, I was not able to run any of the mid week runs this week. But I did manage to run the 12 miler weekend in the hilly (compared to flat arse Illinois) roads of Wisconsin. Looking back at it, I don’t know, if it was prudent to run on a county highway at night without any visual alerts (reflective dressing, LED etc) on me. It was a tough run, but I took it one hill at a time and I have two proud bleeding nipples to show for it!! :).
I was in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Dells to be precise) over the weekend on a camping trip with the good folks from Team Asha. It was great to see all the runners at one place and it was my first outdoor camping trip. I did stay in log cabins before, but this was the first time I had to pitch a tent. And for those that haven’t done it before.. it is NOT so difficult :). You just have to spend a hour of so, figuring out what the hell you are doing, or take a few minutes and read the instructions :).
Much fun was had with food, liquor and music!! 🙂
[The Gang]
[How many runners does it take to pitch a tent??]
[Cool new Asha Running Shirts]
[Important Stuff]
[Rohit showing off his volleyball skills]
[Sri getting ready to make killer omlettes]
[Is that fun or what??]
More pictures here..[http://flickr.com/photos/kudithipudi/sets/72157607569023137/]
Skyscrapers, McDonald's and weasels…
During dinner with a friend recently, we brooded on these three topics..
- Skyscrapers : My friend lives on the 34th floor of a 47(?) floor high rise and we were discussing if that constituted her living in a skyscraper. Both of us couldn’t remember how many floors a building had to have, to be designated as a skyscraper. Intrigued, I fired up my trusted friend, Google, and found out that there is NO precise definition of how many stories or what height makes a building a skyscraper!! So in essence, if you are living in a 10 story building in middle of North Dakota (no offense intended to people living in this state), you are considered to be living in a skyscraper :-). Was proud to find out that Chicago had one of the first skyscrapers in the world!! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscraper).
- McDonalds : The Rock N Roll McDonald’s at 600 North Clark Street in Chicago used to be one of the highest grossing McDonald’s in the world, before the one in Red Square, Moscow, Russia opened up..This used to be one of my favorite McDonald’s. You could always count on some fresh fries after a night of clubbing in the gold coast :). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_N_Roll_McDonald%27s)
- Weasels : Finally, we spoke abt Weasels and wondered why the weasels got associated with weasels!! :).. For an animal that looks so cute, I cannot for the life of me figure out why it got associated with such a bad meaning.. I haven’t been able to find the history of this yet. If any of you do, pls post a comment.
Did anyone notice?
That the folks at McDonald’s are once again aggressively pushing the “super size” meals? It was interesting that, they stopped doing that after the backlash against the “high calories” and the obesity caused by these meals a couple of years ago. Do you remember the “Super Size Me” movie from 2004?
Looks like it is back to business as usual :-).
Poem : I'll show you the moonlight
My friend, Hafsa, shared this poem with me and I thought more people would enjoy it..
I’ll show you the moonlight but not the moon, the scene but not the crime.
I’ll show you the footprints but not the feet, the ore but not the mine.
I’ll tell you the story but not what it means. That’s for you to define.
I’ll give you the words and the pictures. But the rest of it is mine.
–Poem by McNeney
I am in the Guinness book of records.
And so are 8 million other people!! :). Here’s a picture of the official certificate from Firefox showing that I was part of the world record for the most downloaded software in a 24 hour period.
$1550 more to go!!
I raised $250 out of the $1800 I pledged for Asha, without sending a single e-mail or making a single phone call!! By just adding a signature in my e-mail with the link to my 2008 marathon training.
Thx Sis, Hafsa and Sudheer anna.. Thx for supporting the cause of educating poor kids guys.