Read more… or Read more right here… »

the iPhone.

Now if you know me well, you may already know that I hate Apple. I refuse to buy anything that is associated with Apple, and I am more comfortable using Microsoft products any day. I have used Apple for years, so I have many reasons that I don’t like it which is a different discussion, a different post. But this is the first time I felt that they have made a good product, that will boost their other products as well (if they market it well ).

Just like any other phone, there are some good and bad points to it, but overall it does what we want it to do, and in fact, does it better than the Blackberry or Palm Treo would have done for us. The reasons behind this is simple.

The iPhone is all touch screen based, that means no stylus. It has a built in iPod which is great, we have one thing to do both purposes. We are able to integrate with both of our Gmail accounts, and any other email account of our choice, in order to check mail on the phone, which has come very handy to us. You can turn the phone sideways in order to have a widescreen view of a web page or your photos. The calendar and to-do lists are easy to use, and the on-screen keyboard is easier than we thought it would be.

Just today I had read somewhere that a 17 year old spent all summer long at his place in NJ to hack the iPhone so that he is able to use it with another carrier, other than the exclusive currently with AT&T. He was successful by breaking open the phone and doing other crap in order to get it to work on T-Mobile.

So there you have it… Neeraj has a new phone, and I, and my Nokia n73, are departing each other for a while. Why? Well because I have to send it back to India, so that my cousin in Mumbai is able to take it to the nearest Nokia dealer. I have been facing an issue for the last few weeks which has gotten worse. After I would have gotten or made a few calls, if I get another call or call someone, then they are not able to hear my voice. Then I have to switch off the phone, and turn it on again for it to work normally. Its quite annoying and very random, so you don’t know when it will happen. So its still under warranty, and I want a Nokia dealer (my warranty is not international ) in India to look at it and get it fixed for me.

That’s all for now.

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

Neeraj and I have bought our first home!!!! Yes it has happened, and we are very excited. It was the house that we liked, and finally after a week worth of grueling negotations, we got it for the price that we wanted too!!! We will be signing the contract tomorrow, but unless if there is anything that goes wrong in the house inspection, that house is all ours.

A huge task has been completed for us. Our lease at our current apartment was going to run out at the end of September, and we had the next two weeks to tell our landlord if we were going to stay or not, and so now we are relieved because we know what the answer is going to be. The consequences would have been that we would have been paying wayyyy too much rent if we didn’t tell her by the end of this month.

Now the enjoyment of decorating the house, getting appliances (there is no refrigerator or washer or dryer, and of course my plasma or LCD TV that is suppose to be our anniversary gift that still needs to be bought ), and making it feel like our home are what we are looking forward to doing.

Everything happened very nicely, thanks to my parents for their wonderful help and guidance throughout the process, and of course Mata Rani for being there with us and showering us with Her blessings.

Let’s party!!!! Mast hai, mast hai, mast hai, mast kalandar!!

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

Next morning we had breakfast and then around noon-ish everybody departed back to Springfield or Morton. Then Neeraj and I studied a bit more, and then headed out at 1.45pm to the test center for the exam.

The exam itself went averagely well. What does that mean? Of course we would have expected to have done better, but when we had only studied hard for two weeks, it was the score to be expected. Both of our scores were not bad at all, in fact we scored the same that we were scoring for the past two weeks on practice exams. So those practice exams were really good in determining what our score on the real exam was going to be. So its done, and now we are not thinking about it.

We have completed the application to the university of our choice. Now we just have a few other requirements that we are completing in the next few days to be totally done with the application process.

Still looking for that dream house…..yes, its still something on our radar. We haven’t found it but we have made strides this week. We have a few that we have liked that we will check out next week, but we have pretty much finalized our loan which is great.

Tonight we went to see Bourne Ultimatum. Even though it releases in theatres tomorrow, I had won tickets at the office, so Neeraj and I got to go to a pre-screening. Even though we had not seen the first two movies (Bourne Identity or Bourne Supremecy), it was still a great movie. Great effects, great acting, and great storyline. Only problem: the theatre was sooo full Neeraj and I had to sit in the second row…from the front!! Oh god, the seats were bad.

Next weekend we are going to go see: Chak De India!!!!

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

We stopped in Springfield at Papa’s motel to pick up his car. So Mumma and Papa shifted into that car and began to follow us to Morton, which would be another hour’s drive. We got on the highway, and Neeraj got a bit ahead of Papa, when we got a call from them. They asked us to slow down because they saw some smoke coming out Papa’s car around the steering wheel. That freaked Neeraj and me out, so we started going quite slow until we finally saw Papa behind us.

Slowly slowly we reached Morton at 10am safely. Later we had found out that Papa had mentinoed to Mumma that we should have brought the Neon (my old car) from St. Louis to use. Little did he know that he was going to get a new surprise.

We had breakfast as a family, everyone got ready (shower and all), and then Suraj & Neeraj headed out to do some errands, while Mumma and I were in the kitchen. I had the tough job of keeping Papa busy at time so he wouldn’t know what we were up to.

Then around noon the doorbell rang, and I asked Papa to get it. I grabbed the camera, and boy was he surprised to see Vicky Papa and the family. Papa was so happy and surprised.

Then Suraj and Neeraj finally reached home too with the cake and food for a mid lunch/early dinner. We sat around and chit chatted for a long time. Finally it was just not staying in any of our stomachs any longer, and I asked Mumma quietly if we can give the gift now to Papa.

So we got everything ready, the gift, the card, etc… and presented it to Papa. It was a big box that Papa slowly opened, but I told him to rip it apart. Within the box was a smaller box. Papa was thinking that it was some type of jewellery (watch, etc..), lo behold it was car keys! I told Papa, let’s go find out what car it is — and Papa began to cry!!

Mumma said to Papa, its a time for happiness, there is no reason to cry. My dear Papa is quite emotional. Then we took him outside, and boy was he surprised!! He thanked everyone, and he wanted to know how it happened, etc… and then we told him the whole story. He was very happy, and that’s what we wanted.

Now every time I talk to the parents, and they tell me that they are out doing this or that, I ask them:

Impala main ghoom rahe ho? ( Out in the Impala, is it? )

Papa’s 60th Birthday Mission Accomplished. A job well done to Suraj, Neeraj, Mumma, and of course myself.

The rest of the day and evening was enjoyable with tons of cake, ice cream, fun, and games.

Now this week has been a week long studying event. The studying will continue until that dreaded day of 29th July at 3pm when Neeraj and I give that exam that is known as the GMAT! Wish us luck because we need it.

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

Now…the song. The song you are listening to is from the new movie, Apne, but why is it related to this post? Because if you listen to the words, apne toh apne hote hain (those who we consider as our loved ones, really are ours). Mere apne mere parivaar wale hain (those who are mine is my family), and what I am going to tell you from now forthright is between you, me, and the blog (don’t tell my father about anything below ). I can write this confidently because I know that my Papa will not read our blog.

My papa’s 60th birthday is this Thursday. My parents are in Dallas this week on a business trip, and Neeraj and I will pick them up from STL airport on Friday. As for my papa’s 60th birthday, the family wanted to do something for him as he always does so much for us. For many weeks, Mumma, Suraj, Neeraj, and myself had been planning trying to figure out what would be the best thing we can do for him. Well first we thought out the surprise party that we are throwing him this upcoming Saturday. Then we talked about the gift….what does Papa need?

Papa’s dear old car is falling apart…and fast. Its at 230k miles and could die any day. With the increased amount of traveling that my Papa is now doing with his job, he needs to have a nice car (and he deserves one too ). So the family had thought it out: buying Papa a car.

First, Suraj, Neeraj, and I started researching on Papa’s favorite car: Chevrolet Impala. We looked at the 2006 models because we wanted something newer. We found a few that we wanted to see, and then decided that July 7th weekend we will actually go around to the dealers to get the right deal.

So this past Saturday, Neeraj and I woke up early, went to Suraj’s office (yes, he was working on a Saturday ), checked out his office, and went to the first dealership, Ray Dennison. I had requested a 10.15am appointment with the dealer in order to be sure to see other dealerships throughout the day (if in case it didn’t work out). It didn’t work out because the inventory of 2006 Impalas was pathetic at this dealership. High miles and just in bad shape.

Then we went back to Suraj’s office, got his car, and went home. Suraj had breakfast, while Neeraj and I checked out more cars on the Internet. We even decided to broaden our scope (including Camrys in the search) to find out if we can find a nice 2006 or newer car for around $15k with around 15k miles. We found around 6 Impalas that fit that category at Sam Leman’s Chevy City in Bloomington, IL. So the three of us headed out in that direction.

I knew about this dealership as well because I had requested an appointment with them at 2pm, but we just happen to get there ahead time (12.30pmish). The guy that I talked to was on his lunch break so this other guy, who didn’t seem to happy with his job, tried to help us. He didn’t know any of the prices (and btw, on their internet advertisement for the cars that I saw, they mentioned that the prices listed in the ad - $15,995 wasn’t the correct price and that there was a lower price, and if you call or email, they would tell you the price). So I had done just the same a day before and asked for the real price for one of the Impalas, but I never got a response.

So then we checked out a few, one had a crack in the back of the car, one of them was just ugly and old looking, and there was one that was maroon in color that we liked. So we asked to test drive that until we waited for the real salesman to come. Suraj turned up the engine, and it sounded weird, but whatever. This salesguy that was helping us (remember the one who didn’t seem happy with his job), got the temp license plates, and we headed out on the famous Veterans Parkway of Bloomington. The first time Suraj put his foot on the brakes (after picking up some speed), the whole car seemed to shake. So later when the salesguy asked how we liked the car, I was like, “the brakes seem to be faulty”, and then he’s like, “oh it seems the roto something-or-other needs to be turned or fixed, you can negotiate that in your price”, and I was like, “o-ok”.

After the test drive, we went back to talk to the sales manager (mr. idiot who doesn’t know how to do math). Now this guy was an idiot, who knows how he became a sales manager. So the first thing he said, “are you guys going to barter for the price or come to the real deal?” and that made me angry. Come on man, you are a used car manager and you are asking that type of question??? Idiot. Then I told him about the internet ad saying that the price quote is not right, so what is the correct price quote? He hit some numbers on his calculator and came back and said that was the correct price. So then I asked him then why that is listed in the ad that isn’t the correct price, and he said well that was wrong, and he will get that fixed.

So we went further in talking, and we told him that the brakes aren’t working properly. I also told him that I wasn’t going to buy the car until he fixed the brakes (of course! Doesn’t that seem logical, who wants to pay $16k for a car when the brakes don’t work?). So he’s like what’s your price? We said $15k out the door, and he’s like $15k with the brakes fixed? Yes idiot, we didn’t come to your dealership thinking that the brakes of your car wouldn’t be working Somebody get this guy a brain! He of course went away and had to check some numbers and so wasted our time. He comes back what seemed like a half hour and said, “No we can’t do anything about that, the best deal we can give is $17k.” Well Mr. Idiot, we left that door telling him that we could buy a new 2007 Impala with hardly any miles with that type of money……and left his dealership I hate ignorance.

Guess what…we did what we said. We bought a new 2007 Maroon Impala at a different dealership later in the day (all three of us had a headache after talking to Mr. Idiot Sales Manager so we went for ice cream @ Dairy Queen then went further car shopping ). We found this great deal, a newer car, with only 427 miles on it, and bought it for Papa.

Now Papa doesn’t know, and he won’t know until this upcoming Saturday when we will surprise him. The plan is to put the keys of the car in a big box, wrap it, and give it to him. When he opens it, then we will take him outside to his new car. He is going to be surprised We all can’t wait for that moment.

So as the song goes… apne toh apne hote hain….

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

« Hide it

Read more… or Read more right here… »

Neeraj and I had picked up Mumma from Springfield on Friday, so she was with us at home in Morton for the weekend as well. We decided to go out in the evening to Bloomington and just go shopping. We ended up eating out at a sandwich place that we all love, and it ended up being a nice relaxing evening. Sunday, Suraj, Neeraj, and I went out for some by going putt putt golfing at Suraj’s favorite place. Because Suraj had played on this course many times he had an advantage, but we definitely didn’t see it in the first 9 holes. Neeraj had the lead, but he slowly gave it away in the last 9. I came in right in the middle with Suraj being first, and Neeraj being last in the scores.

Then we went bowling……..I hate bowling. I am a bad bowler as you can read from my past experiences. We played two games, and I came last in all two games. Suraj won the first one, and Neeraj won the second one. Overall fun experience, but I didn’t even break a 100.

Now back in STL and back to normal life. We finally took photos of our dear Dodge Neon (yes we are selling JollyFace, pyaar se bulaate hain again ). I am going to put it up in the various classified and hope that we can get some $$ out of it.

Aur toh bas….jhoom rahe hain..

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

« Hide it