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Independence Day in the Capital City

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-07-06T12:58:23-05:00

For Independence Day, we decided to spend the long weekend in our capital city, Washington DC. ... It was a really hot few days, so we tried to spend as much time indoors as we could. ... We went to the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the International Spy Museum. Sunday afternoon we camped out under the shade of a tree at the National Mall (halfway between the Capitol and the Washington Memorial) and waited for the fireworks. ... Wesley was getting a piggy back ride from Janice for part of the way.

Underwater Photography

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-05-30T00:57:58-05:00

I have been experimenting with underwater photography recently. It is rather expensive to get an underwater housing for an SLR camera, but for about a tenth of the price of a housing you can get a point-and-shoot camera that is good for 10 meters (33 feet) under water. I got one of these cameras and experimented in our swimming pool over the last couple of weekends. Here are some of the photos.

PBS Writing Contest

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-05-02T20:44:54-05:00

Her 3rd grade teacher from John Cooper recommended that she enter into the PBS writing contest where children from various schools submit their writings based on rules published by PBS for the contest. This year there were 600 entries from which they pick 1 winner and 10 honorable mentions from each grade, kindergarten through third. Unity received one of the honorable mentions. We were invited by PBS to an award ceremony at the Children's Museum in Houston yesterday. ... Pictured here is Unity with her teacher right after the ceremony at the Children's museum.

Apple Aperture 3

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-04-28T17:26:52-05:00

I was fortunate enough that that I did not experience some of the initial upgrade woes (much discussed in various photography fora), but apparently those issues have since been fixed via the patch releases (version 3.03 is the current one). You can see the new features and specifications on the Apple website, so here I wanted to share my personal experience with Aperture 3. ... ◦ In the metadata now you can see what exposure mode was used and what focus point was used—this is very helpful for selecting/cataloguing images. ... ◦ External plug-in editors are still 32-bit applications so when I use them Aperture has to shut down and restart in 32-bit mode. ...Genuine Fractals 6) cannot handle 16-bit TIFF files as input from Aperture, so I have to be careful about what order I perform the edits.

Micro Four Thirds

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-04-22T18:06:11-05:00

The obvious reason to get a small camera is that it is with me more often, especially when I am traveling—which I do frequently. Carrying the hulking Nikon D700 with its huge lenses is not always practical, for example when I am out at dinner with the family or at a school event with the kids. ...What I was looking for was a camera that I could have with me all the time that had good enough image quality and very good usability. ...And its ability to focus and meter are also as good as an entry level DSLR both in terms of accuracy as well as speed. ... The GF1 takes superb video at 720p / 24 frames/sec so I can mix and match video clips during editing with clips from my larger video camera.

Spring Break

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-03-20T09:17:39-05:00

The next day after breakfast we headed out to the White Tank camp ground at the National Park which was about 10 miles from the cabin. ...The next day we spent hiking several more miles on a different set of trails in the National Park, making our way to the town of Joshua Tree (just north of the Park) for a late lunch. Along the way we had picked some juniper berries which I used to make lamb stew for dinner that night which was a big hit. We had a 6 am flight the next morning, so after a 4-hour sleep we packed up and headed out to Ontario, CA at around 2:30 am. This was my first hiking trip since the new hips—I did pretty well considering I hiked several miles over two days without any pain or other issues.

Unity turns 9

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-02-14T16:55:35-06:00

Unity turned 9 last weekend. To celebrate, we took her and her friends to Landry's seafood restaurant for lunch followed by the Alley Theatre to see Wonderland: Alice’s New Musical Adventure. Celebrating Unity's birthday with family at home. Unity with me on her birthday.

Unity learns to canter

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-02-14T16:33:05-06:00

Unity has been walking and trotting on a horse since she started her training. A couple of weeks ago, I took her to the riding lesson and she was very excited when the instructor let her canter on the horse. She came home all giddy and jumping up and down talking about the exhilarating feeling the cantering was.

"I can" is contageous

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-01-18T23:25:02-06:00

Each one of the TEDIndia 2009 talks has been fantastic but this one is my favorite so far. This woman, Kiran Sethi, is inspiring hundreds of thousands of children to take charge. The impact she is going to have by empowering children over the next decade (and beyond) is incredible. ... You have to watch this ten minute talk to see how Kiran Sethi is changing the world.

Out with Unity

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-01-16T19:40:16-06:00

It was a chilly day, so we got some hot chocolate and peach gelato and sat outside. We then explored the Woodlands Waterfront area for a while—the walking was good exercise for me. ... We sat and watched the all the different colors changing every minute as the sun was setting by the lake. ... The best part of the few hours was the great conversations I had with her about life's little (but important) lessons. Pictured here Unity is walking briskly near the Woodlands Waterfront area earlier today.

The second hip

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-01-12T23:44:48-06:00

He gave me a clean bill of health and removed all the range of motion restrictions. The x-ray on the right is from the checkup last week. ...I am already walking without a support this week and the right leg is almost as strong as the left leg. I don't quite have the full range of motion yet, but today I started my physical therapy, so it is a matter of time until I get there. I am hoping to go hiking and get on my bike in the Spring.

New Years Eve | Bollywood Style

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-01-03T19:45:05-06:00

This year's New Years Eve party was hosted by Kanika and Arun. ... The week before the party each couple was given a Bollywood movie song (and video) to which we had to perform a dance. Janice practiced her dance at home earlier in the day and we decided that at the party we would go first to set the bar for the rest of the crowd. ... Everyone had their Bollywood get up and everyone got into the dancing and singing. ... Below is the list of the Bollywood movie songs given to each couple.

Christmas 2009

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2010-01-03T19:22:27-06:00

Here is a video clip of opening presents on Christmas morning at home. For some reason the timestamp on the video camera was left on, so you can see that we got a late start on Christmas morning.

Improved Post Processing Tools

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-12-28T23:06:53-06:00

The applications are really, really fast and the internal SATA drives as well as the external eSATA drives are about ten times faster than the Drobo FW800 I was using previously (the Drobo seems to have about half the throughput of other FW800 drives). ... • 160GB Intel X25-M Solid State boot drive (internal)—boot up is fast but, more importantly, apps start fast and the boot drive stays separate from the RAID-configured Data drives. ... • Four 2TB 3Gb/s internal drives in RAID 0+1 configuration—I get 4TB of usable space, striped for speed, mirrored for reliability • Two NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 each with 512MB memory—each of the 30-inch monitors is connected to one of these • 4-port eSATA card for connecting external backup drives—right now this is to connect the eSATA back-up drive, but could also be used for storage when I exceed the 4TB space I have now.

San Francisco Photographs

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-12-19T20:11:15-06:00

I have added some photographs of San Francisco here. These photographs were taken during three separate trips to San Francisco in 2007.

Unity loves riding

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-12-18T11:59:39-06:00

Twice a week she eagerly looks forward to going to her horseback riding lessons. Last week she participated in the “egg and spoon race” where you have to balance a tennis ball on the spoon while riding. If the ball falls of the spoon, you need to get off the horse, pick up the ball, get back on your horse and continue riding. The first person to reach the end and drop the ball and the spoon into the barrel wins the race. Unity won third place which was quite impressive since most of the other kids participating were older than her.

Ethan turns two

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-11-30T11:53:08-06:00

Thanksgiving day was also my nephew Ethan's birthday. He turned two, here pictured with his grandmother, Donna.

Thanksgiving

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-11-29T11:28:53-06:00

For this year’s thanksgiving I decided to make a nine course dinner including a turkey main course. ... One guest was vegetarian, so I also made some vegetarian alternatives for some of the courses. ... There were some new items in the menu that I was making for the first time, including the carrot sorbet with pea soup as the starter and the pan fried haddock topped with roasted foie gras. ...I served the first course shortly after 4pm so that the main course could be timed with the children's dinner time at 6pm. ... At the end of dinner we also went around the table to say what each of us was thankful for this year.

Visiting London

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-11-01T20:27:21-06:00

In my recent visit to London, I was busy with work related activities for most of the week. On the last day of the trip I made time to have dinner with some old friends. ... She recently moved to London from New York and Atlanta. ... She and I went to college together, so I have known her for about 22 years. ... They were visiting London the same time I was there.

Hudson Valley

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-10-12T14:56:27-05:00

After Richard's wedding we all drove up to Hudson Valley to spend a few days at a lake house. It was Janice's mother's 70th birthday the following week, so we all wanted to get together for a family vacation and celebrate the occasion. We went apple picking one day at the apple orchard in a nearby farm; took the children to the children's museum; visited an old 17th century farm and grain mill by the Hudson River; visited the Rockefellar house which is now converted to a museum; visited the Culinary Institute; and the rest of the time we had some good food and relaxed at the lake house. You can see the photos here.

Richard and Tamara get married

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-10-11T22:24:00-05:00

Richard and Tamara got married on Saturday, September 26, 2009. ... There was a dinner hosted by Tamara's uncle Friday evening where each side of the family got to meet the other side. It was great to finally meet Tamara's parents and sister — I had heard great things about her family — and her uncles, aunts and cousins. We mingled on the roofdeck with drinks and snacks before going down to the apartment for dinner. For the wedding ceremony on Saturday, they had picked a really beautiful location at Cherry Hill in Central Park, Manhattan.

Self Portrait

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-08-30T00:25:51-05:00

Here is a self portrait taken earlier this week. My digital SLR camera is not capable of taking this picture—it required a very special camera that has no lens (works like a scanner) but has its own very special light source! The sensor size was 18-inches by 24-inches compared to the 1.4-inch full frame sensor in my DSLR. You can see the left hip prosthesis in white since the metal is completely opaque to the special light.

My latest gadget—a new hip

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-08-04T13:18:45-05:00

The balls of my hip joint (femoral heads) were damaged when I was treated with prednisone (a steroid drug) to reduce the inflammation in my lungs during a severe episode of pneumonia over three years ago. ... Interestingly, however, I have found that this side effect is well known among only orthopedic doctors, but every non-orthopedic doctor I have talked to has no idea of this phenomenon. ... During the last few months the symptoms on the left hip became so severe that I not only had trouble biking and swimming, but I also could not walk or even sit without pain. ... After much research and seeing 7 doctors in 4 cities (Houston, Atlanta, New York and Baltimore), Janice and I decided that a hip resurfacing is the way to go rather than a total hip replacement.

Wesley's birthday

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-08-03T13:13:14-05:00

Here is a short video clip from Wesley's birthday on May 28, 2009. He turned 4.

The Industrial New York

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-06-20T13:07:14-05:00

On a recent trip to New York, I came across this interesting view of a Con Edison power plant next to Queensboro Bridge. You can see a sliver of Roosevelt Island in the Hudson River and the skyline of NYC in the background. ... This panorama is made of 36 individual photos stitched together. The photos were taken with a 24 mm lens on a Nikon D700. Unfortunately the tiny version here does not have the same visual impact as the original panorama which is 11160 × 2525 pixels.

Spring Break

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-03-22T14:26:53-05:00

I was able to take a few days off and spend some recreation time with the family. ... Then we spent a few days at a lake house in the Hill Country near Austin, TX. ...The weather was the most ideal, mid-70's to 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the day with a nice breeze and the sun not too strong, dropping to around 60 degrees at night. ...We enjoyed breakfast on the deck above the boat house the next morning and spent the afternoon at the Llana River. ... Then in the evening we dined at the famous Lambert's Barbecue and took a leisurely stroll through Austin before heading back to the lake house.

Shopping in Texas

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-03-21T12:09:38-05:00

How do you know you are shopping in Texas? Texas is a 'right to carry firearms' state.

Why RAW?

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-03-15T23:00:01-05:00

If you used a camera mounted fill-in flash firing straight ahead you would get the following: the little girl and the two people standing very close in front of me would be overexposed, almost washed out by the flash; the walls on either side of the archway and the people under the archway would be the same as the above photo (i.e. dark) because they are too far from the flash; the Taj would be the same as the above photo because we are keeping the exposure the same. ... The way to make fill-in flash work is to have five wireless remote triggered flashes on light stands—two illuminating the walls on either side of the archway, one illuminating the people in the archway, and two on either side of me reflected off umbrellas illuminating the people and the floor in front of me. This is obviously an elaborate set up that would take quite a bit of time, require permission from the curators ahead of the visit and I would have to carry a lot of equipment with me all the way from the US. ...The horizontal axis of the histogram show the illumination level of a pixel ranging from 0 (black) on the far left to 255 (brightest) on the far right [rendered JPEG image shows in 8-bit, hence 0-255]. ...It is possible with negative but not slide film—it used to take me hours in the dark room while inhaling nasty chemicals to do what I can now do to a digital image with just a few clicks on a computer.

Teamwork

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-03-15T10:02:12-05:00

Last night when Janice was preparing Wesley's bed Wesley wanted to help. ... While Wesley helped, Janice explained to him the concept of teamwork. The minds of 3-year-olds are like sponges—they soak everything up. But in this case the concepts of preparing a bed and teamwork may have been a bit confused. I suggested to Wesley that the pillows needed to be put in their place and Wesley proudly asked, "Dad, can I do the teamwork all by myself?"

Brain Magic

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-03-11T08:43:06-05:00

Here is an interesting clip from TED on Brain Magic. The most fascinating part for me was the "second sight" where Keith Barry drives blindfolded while "seeing" through the eyes of the woman in the passenger seat. If anyone knows how this is possible or how it is done please let me know. The voodoo stuff was also quite interesting—curious to know how this is done as well.

Whole wheat pancakes

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-03-08T10:27:29-05:00

Here is the recipe which is very quick to make; you will need a flour mill to mill the wheat into flour. ...Pour batter using a ladle into pre-heated, greased pans over medium or medium-low heat to make a 4-inch diameter pancake. When one side is done (you'll see small bubbles forming on the top and the underside will be golden brown), flip over to cook the other side; total cooking time is about 3-4 minutes for each pancake. ...Note: while baking powder is activated by heat, baking soda is activated by acid from sour things, i.e. buttermilk; so once the batter is made, it won't store for long. ... However, once the pancakes are made you can freeze them in a ziploc bag for several weeks; before freezing, cool them to room temperature on a paper towel to absorb moisture.

Weak and shit

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-03-03T06:10:45-06:00

Here is a serious but funny study of crack dealer organizations and culture by famed economist Steven Levitt and sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh of the University of Chicago. One of my favorite moments is when Sudhir was with the gang members in an abandoned housing project and discovers that the correct answer to the first question in his survey is "E" (not A, B, C or D)—you have to see the video for context. And my other favorite is the explanation by the gang leaders and the board of directors that they pay themselves more so that they don't appear "weak and shit." This video is about 21 minutes long; it is absolutely hilarious and very insightful.

Visiting India 5

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-25T06:49:57-06:00

On the final day of my stay in India I left Bangalore in the morning, spent the afternoon in our office in Delhi and then had an early dinner with some of the team members. After dinner I headed to the IGI airport in Delhi to begin the 28 hour journey back home. During my flight I had time to edit the photos from Bangalore which you can view here. All the photos on this trip were taken with a 12-24mm wide angle DX lens—I now really appreciate the amazing image quality and sharpness of this lens.

Visiting India 4

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-24T05:19:06-06:00

For dinner last night the team arranged for us to eat at a South Indian restaurant that specializes in food from Kerala. First, I have to say, what an incredible culinary experience, so exquisite, such a different level from any other South Indian food I have had (all previous South Indian culinary experience was physically not in South India since this was my first trip). ...They first brought out the carbs, all made of rice flour—neer dosa (foreground center), rice noodles with coconut (foreground left) and appam (rice pancakes which I finished before taking this photo). ...There was a mutton curry, a fish curry, a shrimp curry, a very tangy vegetable curry, and a coconut vegetarian curry which was white in color. They all were very distinctly different from any Indian curries I have had in the past.

Visiting India 3

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-23T13:34:20-06:00

There were five of us in a van leaving the hotel at the crack of dawn around 5:30AM and we met up with our guide for the day in Agra. ... The weather was perfect for the trip—a bit chilly when we left the hotel but picking up to the high 70's Fahrenheit during the day with blue skies and a very slight breeze. We spent the day at the magnificent Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort which was the original seat of the Mogul Empire before they moved to Delhi, and Emperor Akbar's tomb. ...For example, after building the Taj Mahal, the emperor Shajahan did not kill the craftsmen or cut their hands off—he provided them with a lavish retirement plan for life that kept them from building another Taj Mahal. It took twenty thousand workers and craftsmen twenty two years to build the Taj Mahal and it cost about 25 billion rupees (in 17th century rupees) which was only 1% of the wealth of Emperor Shah Jahan.

Visiting India 2

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-19T07:14:25-06:00

We just returned from work at the end of the day. Here is a view of us walking into the outdoor 'lobby' of the hotel. We are getting together for dinner this evening in half hour at the Kebab Factory.

Visiting India 1

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-18T20:51:32-06:00

I am traveling to India for a few days. I arrived last night India time and checked into the hotel. Here is a view from the outdoor 'hallway' of my hotel when I was walking from my room to the restaurant for breakfast this morning. I will be at work the next two days, then going on a trip to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra on Saturday, and finally spending Monday and Tuesday in Bangalore before returning back to Houston.

Nailed!

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-12T23:29:13-06:00

Here is a hilarious story about someone trying to enter a photo contest.

The Lenovo Ideapad S10 netbook

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-09T19:42:05-06:00

My expectations were high because I was used to a fully loaded Lenovo ThinkPad T61 with a beautiful 15.4-inch display, built-in AT&T 3G WAN, built-in SmartCard reader and a host of other features. ...It is not meant for editing high-definition video but in practice it is plenty fast and very usable for email, editing Microsoft Office documents, surfing, listening to music, watching videos and using skype. ...Compared to the built-in version of the ThinkPad T61 I have found that this combination is more stable (does not freeze or crash), has a more reliable connection and has a faster 3G connection. ...This was the one attribute of the laptop that I did not like, so I went ahead and bought a 6-cell battery when it became available. Now I get over 5 hours of usage, but it adds a bit of weight and raises the back so the keyboard is at a slight slope (see photo).

Unity's birthday

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-08T22:51:23-06:00

Here is a short video clip from Unity's birthday on February 7, 2009. She turned 8.

Cats in the house

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-02-08T11:49:26-06:00

I found two cats in the house this morning. The first one likes to sit on the window of the master bathroom and read books by the natural light. This is also a good way to hide from Wesley. The other cat loves candy cane and here he is sitting on the dining table with his favorite candy.

Audrey discovers the world

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2009-01-31T00:18:07-06:00

My niece Audrey discovered the globe in the play room after lunch. Photo taken during the Christmas holidays while Shahed and Kim were visiting us in Houston with the children. See more Christmas holiday photos here.

Christmas 2008

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-12-29T14:06:34-06:00

For Christmas this year we stayed at home in Houston. Richard and Tamara came to visit from LA. ... Shahed and Kim visited with their children right after Christmas until new years. Here is a short video clip from the holiday where you'll see the dinosaur that Wesley got for Christmas and the new play set in the back yard that the kids got.

Visiting San Antonio

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-12-01T21:53:56-06:00

The plan was to see the Alamo in the afternoon, have dinner at the River Walk, then drive north about 50 miles where we would check into a motel for the night; the next day we would spend outdoors in nature by a river. ...The River Walk was crowded but one of the restaurants we were looking for was able to seat us right away, although we had to be inside rather than by the water. ...After dinner we walked around for a bit and then headed out north to the motel where we had made reservations. ... The kids had fallen asleep during the drive, so Rashed and Janice went in to check in while I waited in the van so that we could take the kids straight to bed when we unloaded. ...In the end that turned out to be the right call because the children had a tremendous amount of fun there; they were very sad to leave at the end of the day.

Thanksgiving

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-11-27T22:30:24-06:00

We wanted to do something other than turkey for Thanksgiving this year. We ended up deciding on pheasants partly because some fresh pheasants were available and partly because it has been a while since I cooked pheasants. ... The highlight was the 1995 Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru that we paired with the Pheasant; Janice and I bought it in 1998 and have been holding on to it for the last ten years. ... 2 Belgian endive and Basil salad with berries, toasted almonds and a mustard vinaigrette 3 Pan fried Dover sole with a shallot and lemon leaf sauce and steamed carrot

Investment in renewable energy

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-11-14T23:30:22-06:00

But the fear among many when the oil prices dropped below $70 last month was whether such investments will stop altogether if the oil prices were to drop below $60. ...Because of the falling demand, the falling consumer spending, the credit crunch and the general state of the financial system, it is not just energy prices that have dropped. ... My thinking has always been that energy prices is one of several factors and probably not the most influential factor that will affect investment in renewables. ...Daniel Yergin validates some of my thinking to date and provides additional perspective that I paraphrase here with my own color added: For government incentives for such programs to work, the government itself needs to reduce costs and increase revenue. ... [While the bailout of the banks is highly debatable, the bailout of the auto industry makes no sense; unfortunately the new administration may be supporting this. —comment mine] New revenue sources may come not just from taxes but from ideas like carbon permits that the Europeans have already started.

Breakfast this morning

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-11-02T16:55:00-06:00

As I was researching cholesterol and its effects I learned that the nutrients and fiber in grains of whole wheat help reduce cholesterol and have a long list of other nutritional benefits. ... I thought to myself that no wonder a hundred years ago people could live on a diet of bread, cheese and water; you put someone on a diet of (Wonder) bread, cheese and water today and he/she will die very quickly of malnourishment! I also learned that even though you can find whole wheat flour and whole wheat products on the store shelf, milled wheat flour has a short shelf life, i.e. many of the nutrients begin to decompose and by the time you buy a packet of flour at the store it has very little nutrients left. ...Note: while baking powder is activated by heat, baking soda is activated by acid from sour things, i.e. buttermilk; so once the batter is made, it won't store for long. ... However, once the waffle is made you can freeze them in a ziploc bag for several weeks; before freezing, cool them to room temperature on a paper towel to absorb moisture.

The Texans vs. The Bengals

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-10-31T21:18:11-05:00

Last Sunday I was invited by MC to the Houston Texans vs. the Cincinnati Bengals football game at Reliant Stadium. MC had 4 VIP tickets and 4 pre-game field passes, so Rashed and I went with MC and EF. When we arrived a couple of hours before the game we were served a quick lunch and then led to the field. During the hour on the field we watched the players from both teams warm up; saw the Chairman and CEO of the team, the President of the Stadium and General Manager of the team and various other characters that one normally sees only in the local newspaper. ...There was a very nice hot buffet that was served and we were given binoculars and wireless handheld LCD TVs to keep track of games and scores.

Dark Days

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-10-25T02:05:08-05:00

What makes this documentary so great is that it makes you connect at a very personal level with individuals in a community with whom we would otherwise never connect. ...When Singer came to New York from the UK, he was fascinated by the idea of people living in tunnels. He spent almost a year in the dark tunnels with the homeless to get to know them. Then it occurred to him to make a movie so he spent another year in the tunnels filming. Singer had never made a movie before, never used a movie film camera, and did not have the budget to make a movie and yet he pulls off this stunning documentary shot on 16 mm grainy black and white film.

Grandma's birthday

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-10-20T00:29:07-05:00

We invited Janice's mother to visit us for a week for her birthday. ... For lunch we grilled some steaks and vegetables and sat outside by the pool. ...Later in the evening we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant called Jasper's - this is the place we used to cater my birthday party. ...There is a Ferris wheel and other activities for kids and grown-ups at the aquarium. At the end of the day we sat down to eat at this great sea food restaurant at the aquarium called Landry's.

Photos of my wedding

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-10-14T00:38:43-05:00

I have finally scanned in the negatives from my wedding photos, edited and posted them up here. ... When I pulled out the box of negatives recently I noticed that there was no fading or discoloration. A couple of the negatives had minor scratches but I think that must have been from the time when I originally developed them. Putting them through the scanner at a very high resolution you can start to see how grainy the Kodak TMAX 400 film is and also that the manual focussing of yesteryear was never as quick or precise as today's autofocus lenses. ...It is quite amazing how young Janice and I looked when we got married.

Third degree encounter with Ike

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-09-23T23:53:56-05:00

Then Ike developed from a tropical depression to a Category 2 hurricane by the time it had its landfall on the Texas coast near Galveston Island. Category 2 isn’t quite like the category 4 or 5 of Katrina that devastated New Orleans a couple of years ago, but there was something else about Ike that was very unsettling. ... This enormous size created storm surges that flooded the coastal areas of Texas long before landfall and it also has a higher likelihood of spawning off tornadoes after landfall. ...We had been tracking Ike (see Ike’s path on the right from stormpulse.com)on the various weather stations and based on the wind speed projections near our home 35 miles from Houston we decided to stay and hunker down. ...At 6:19 the power went out, and we all were awake listening to the sounds and wondering what’s going to happen next in our respective close beds.

Getting Old Together

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-08-17T23:07:11-05:00

Two key challenges were that most of our friends don’t live in Houston and that we had just moved into a new home so we had to get it furnished on a deadline. ...Initially the lead time that some of the furniture stores would ask for (2-6 months) was a rather frustrating experience but later we came to realize that we didn't like a lot of the traditional design. ...We got to hang out with great friends, talked, laughed, joked, listened, remembered, mused, played old music and, of course we wined and dined a six course dinner while being served by a full staff of waiters/waitresses and chefs at the comfort of your home. After dinner a few people had to leave early to relieve the baby sitters at home but the rest of us had some single malts and then jumped in the pool and the hot tub. ...Next morning I didn't feel any older but I had a great memory of being together with friends the night before and some photos.

My mother turns 70

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2008-03-26T19:21:27-05:00

For my mother's 70th birthday we decided that we should go some place that she had never been to but a place where we could take the kids and family. ... Janice found a 5 bedroom house that could sleep up to 18 people just outside the Canyon so we went ahead and booked it. ... We would fly into Phoenix from Houston and then drive over to the Grand Canyon; Janice's mom would fly into Phoenix from Baltimore and meet us at the airport. ...My mother frantically searched through her purse and could not find her ID; she had switched purses just for the trip and left her own ID in her other purse and accidentally picked up my father's. ...The two of us drove back home and then I spent several hours on the phone with various airlines until we found 1 ticket and 1 standby on a very early flight the next morning.

Turkey Day

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2007-11-22T23:24:00-06:00

The big change from the recent past was that my father was not around any more. Shahed was living in Atlanta, and my mother went to visit them there for Thanksgiving. ...As usual, I went through several iterations of the menu before converging onan eight course meal with heritage turkey as the main course. The original version on paper had nine courses, but since I ended up with the heritage turkey with sides (by popular demand), I ended up dropping a course. ...The funny moment was after the fourth course Janice's mother ran upstairs and went to bed -- she was not up until next morning.

Pind Balluchi | India trip

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2007-10-12T19:00:24-05:00

Both Ruchir and Vinni are vegetarian, so they picked a place that had good vegetarian food, this time North Indian, called Pind Balluchi. ...This trip did not allow for much sight seeing because the whole time was packed with work. I need to head back to the US quickly so I could not make time for a longer trip. But my big takeaways were how much the Indian society and economy has progressed in the last several years, how bustling and large our company is in India. ...The first leg of the journey is a 20 hour flight from Delhi to Newark so I will need to get some sleep.

Indian breakfast | India trip

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2007-10-12T09:59:11-05:00

This morning I decided to have an Indian breakfast and watermelon juice. It was a traditional vegetarian breakfast with puri, idli, sambar, chick peas, and other items. It was so good that I went for several helpings and ended up eating too much.

Getting more done | India trip

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2007-10-11T18:57:02-05:00

The second day of the workshop was even more productive than the yesteray. As a team we hit a stride, and although at different times it felt like we were jumping around the topics a lot, the conversations actually converged into a set of decisions. There was some serious out of the box thinking and we tested our ideas again real-life scenarios of the past as well as some future potential scenarios. We had filled all the whiteboards along the 3 walls of the room several times over. ...Some of us decided to unwind at the Punjabi restaurant right across the street from the office.

Getting down to work | India trip

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2007-10-10T18:53:14-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, the jetlag had hit me hard, so I was hoping that I would be better adjusted today. After breakfast at the hotel (this time they had fresh watermelon juice) I got in the car which was waiting for me out front. Every ride is an adventure in Delhi - the sights, the traffic (families on motor bikes, overloaded buses, ...), and all the little events along the way like a divine cow trying to cross the highway in rush hour. ...I had dined there before, three years ago, so I had some idea of what to expect. The kebabs are some of the best you can get anywhere in the world, but the overall quality and finesse is not quite like the Tamarind in The Mayfair, London.

Saravana Bhavan | India trip

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2007-10-09T22:50:34-05:00

He is from South India and is also a vegetarian, so he recommended a great South Indian vegetarian restaurant in Delhi called Saravana Bhavan. ...We ended up with a 5 course meal but we had none of the usual items we order in a South Indian restaurant in the US (e.g. masala dosa, etc.). ...ST and I went through very similar events in life over these years, we both had two children, had our fathers pass away, relocated a few times, grew individually and so on. Even though we had not talked for almost seven years, we did not miss a beat - it felt like we had known each other for a long time. After dinner we took a stroll in front of India gate in Downtown Delhi to finish our conversation before returning to the hotel.

Breakfast | India trip

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2007-10-09T10:48:17-05:00

As I walked into the restaurant at 7:15 am, I saw that in addition to the tables with white tablecloth inside, there were a few tables out in the courtyard. ... I asked if I could sit outside and his response was, "it is not very nice out today." I was thinking it would be muggy and hot, but the waiter proceeded to that, "it is too cold outside." ... The temperature was just perfect - mid to high 60's - there were birds singing, and the tables were under the shade of trees. ...My favorites were the dragon fruit, the scrambled eggs with asparagus, and the tall glass of lychee juice (I had to go for seconds on the juice).

Visiting India

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2007-10-08T18:24:49-05:00

The last time I visited, I was traveling with Alan, Bob and Frank, so a lot of the logistics were already taken care of by Alan's assistant at that time. ... After customs, I walked out into the arrivals area with some trepidation because I wasn't sure if the car that was supposedly arranged for me would actually be there, since it was arranged so last minute. Sure enough, there was a guy holding a sign with my name on it - there were hundreds of other people holding signs too, so I had to really squint and make sure I did not miss it. ...There is a new highway in Gurgaon, but the area between the airport and Uppal's Orchid Hotel was quite barren with the exception of the Radisson Hotel about half way between. ...Before going to sleep, I called the receptionist for a wake up call at 6:00am, and she asked if I would like a cup of tea with the wake up call!

Thanksgiving

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2006-11-23T23:45:00-06:00

In fact the last time I created a nine course dinner we were living in San Francisco. This year it was just the family with five kids running around at home in Atlanta. ...And then based on the ingredients available in the market, I made final modifications to the menu. ...I dropped the stilton from the poached pears at the last minute (that was the continuity to the cheese plate); instead I added the honeydew melon to the cheese plate to make it more balanced. This was after the menu was printed, so in photos you will see the menu has stilton in it.

Visiting Amsterdam

masudhaq@gmail.com — 2006-11-13T23:59:00-06:00

I spoke with a few friends from work about travel tips - they suggested flying there since the airport is very close to the city, Centraal Station is about 15 minutes by train. ...I picked up an I Amsterdam card from the tourist bureau - this includes a travel guide, a public transport pass that is valid for 24 hours and a museum entry pass that is valid for 24 hours (you can also get ones that work for 3 days or 7 days, but 24 hours was enough for me). ... It took me all afternoon to figure out how it all worked because there were no written instructions - you have to find the correct numbered tram and then once you get on you have to put a time stamp on the card by holding it in a timestamp machine. ...The other thing that I was not expecting was how friendly people were: random people would greet, start conversations, and switch to English as soon as they realized I was American - in the tram, train station, cafes, museums. ...I had to fly to Birmingham to spend an evening with my cousin and then head back to the US first thing in the morning so that I could make home in time for Janice's birthday dinner.