“Do I feel lucky?” Well do ya, punk?

Know this line?? Of course its the famous line from 'Dirty Harry'.One of the most famous Clinteast wood lines in hollywood movies.If you haven't heard it - here is the entire script!

'I know what you’re thinking: “Did he fire six shots, or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well do ya, punk?'

Why am i writing this?BECAUSE, I fired a .44 Magnum,Yup a real one and almost 60 rounds on it. You bet I did. Not only did i fire a .44 Magnum, I also fired a Beretta M9 semi-automatic hand gun used by the US marines,A AR-15 semi automatic sniper(similar to the M16 used by US armed forces),A smith and Wesson revolver, A rifle,a couple of other hand guns. Yup all real and with real bullets.Don't ask me where and how but of course legally and in a firing range.Yeah its pretty cool and loud and scary in the beginning but you get used to it.Boy!! War is scary and guns are cool!









This is the Beretta M9 semi automatic hand gun used by the US marines.


By the way the photo below consists of a burn because of a hot bullet falling on my arm.The bullet was from the sniper gun Ar-15 seen in the photo below this.The AR-15 is a similar gun to the M16 used by US armed forces.






Yup ,thats me holding a Magnum .44.

Am i excited?? Boy, i am ecstatic!! Why?? First snow of the year!! Tra la la la,yay,yay,yay,snow,snow,snow,lovely snow..The kid in me is fully blown apart!! Running around barefoot in 6 inches of snow and having ur tongue taste the cold frosty flakes and reveling in the tingling sensation of flakes landing on your bare skin.WINTER IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!MY FAVOURITE SEASON!!YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

One republic

Have i talked about'One republic' before? I think they are a really good music band who happen to have their head screwed just right when it comes to understanding music and lyrics and current generation.I personally think they are destined for a lot of popularity in the music world.

Yay for good music!!Btw, i had gone to their concert about a week back and i was surprised they came in as cover for Maroon 5.Seriously?? I think it should be the other way around,no offense to Maroon 5 but one republic just blows them away in comparison.

Some photos from the concert

Rock on!!

My fingers are groping and searching around desperately,it knows what it wants but is not getting it,after 10 seconds,then suddenly it finds it!!

Is it right?The question immediately pops up.I ponder,there is nothing else,thats the best it gets.Now is the leap of faith. I am 1000 feet above the ground on super exposure and my two legs are spread apart and are on tiny peanut size nooks. I have to go up!!This is the only way!!

I take a deep breath.My left hand has found a thin paper clip size projection and i pull up using the tips of my fingers and using my right hand immediately grasp a higher rock projection.I am safe!!

I pull myself up and i see chris up on the rocky ledge grinning. He gives out a whoop and shouts 'Now you can say that you are a 5.9 rock climber,that was awesome!!'.We high five and I stop to take my breath. I must say that i felt fear the last 30 seconds,my adrenalin was fully pumped up!!

The last three days (aug 27,28,29) i was at Mazama.Its about 4 hours from Seattle. Chris and myself climbed rock. On the third day we did a route called the Prime rib which was a multi-pitch climb with 11 pitches 5.9 difficulty. It was a sport route(means bolted) and is supposedly the longest sport route in united states.It took us 7.5 hours car to car to do this route.

It was awesome fun and i am proud that this was my first biggest climb on rock boosting my confidence. All thanks to chris who is an awesome teacher,climber and climbing partner. I did learn an amazing lot on rock climbing. Now my travel destinations have expanded from Alpine climbing to ice climbing to rock climbing.

Looking forward for more fun!!

Killer song and video- One of my 'life' song...

Coincidences...

I have landed in Seattle.landed about 30 mins back.I knew I had to wait for Phillip who was to arrive an hour and half later.I was hungry and saw a Manchu wok and took some rice and noodles.I made it a to-go thinking that I will eat it later after collecting my baggage.I collected my baggage and found a place to eat.while eating I realized that I had forgotten to take water.the hot sauce was doing it's effect and I had to drink!!scanned around, not a shop in sight.I did not want to lug my heavy backpack around in search of water.I decided to finish my lunch as is and then decided to think upon a game plan for water. Funny as it may seem this Japanese lady just came by and offered an unopened bottle of water and asked me whether I can take it.she said she had to catch a flight and they would anyways throw the bottle at security check.I was a bit dazed upon my luck and the coincidence.I gladly accepted and downed the whole thing.life's funny!!

I am depressed.Sad.Hopeless.Stupid Life! I wake up with an extremely heavy heart. The future i hoped for has not happened.The person i wished to be did not materialize.WHat is life? Why do such things happen? Why am i such a stupid emotional mortal who cannot handle things and still craves for it? Why is acceptance so difficult? What am i hanging on to?Why does my utopian world mean so much to me?

6 days to go..

My tryst with Rainier, a mountain i have longed to set my foot upon. Conditions are currently not great on the mountain. Avalanche last saturday killed one person on ingram glacier.Hopefully conditions will be better for us.I can feel the typical tingling sensation in my body.I am excited.

busch gardens - Tampa - Two of the best roller coaster there

Visited the famed Busch gardens of Tampa, overall its a pretty nice park.Its more like a Zoo+ amusement park but does not have much rides though.Here are two rides which i found best and sat on twice.

Shuttle Atlantis - STS 132 last flight

Two days back I saw the Space shuttle Atlantis launch off for the last time. It was the grandest and most spectacular event i have ever seen in my life. What makes it even more special is i had the best seat that was possible for anybody from the public to have.

This is how i saw it from the place i was - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESk0mFt_-E4

Infact the view for me was better ,i had a Nikon binocular which had a 10-22X Zoom which i specifically purchased for this event and the shuttle was much larger in my view finder.

Being a Space Buff it had been a life long dream of mine to see a live shuttle launch and i FINALLY DID IT!!YooHooo... It was a glorious cloudless clear blue sky day with the best possible view and i simply could not have asked for anything better. I have got some spectacular launch shots(hey!! These are my best shots with my ability,i got lucky with my auto settings,love my D300) from my camera which i will post later on my Flickr link.


I feel like a million bucks!!

Grand slam on coon rapids

We had some fun over the weekend going to Grandslam.Here are a few videos of the same

Prani swinging a baseball bat and taking a few shots:




Prani dancing at the arcade parlor




Dashing cars



Me dancing

Margaret Moth

My photo links

I have travelled quite a bit in the last few months but had never taken the time to update the blog about the trips nor uploaded the photos.At least i have done one -Uploaded the photos.Once you enter the links there is small slideshow icon on the top which you can click for faster and better viewing.Definitely saves the hassle of clicking on each snap.

Ouray-Jan 2010-
I took an ice climbing trip to Ouray Colorado with Appu and Phil and had tremendous fun there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22540176@N02/sets/72157623442150886/

Puerto Rico -Nov 2009 - Did a 5 day puerto rico trip with Vinod and Athul and did a scuba certification. It was a fun trip with scuba diving,snorkelling,hiking in the rain forests,Ziplining in the forests,rapelling down waterfalls,getting stung by a jelly fish,the fantastic bio luminecence bay,the beautiful underwater marine life of the caribbean seas,a chartered plane just for us,mosquitoes,what not!!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/22540176@N02/sets/72157623563243784/

Yosemite -July 2009- This was last year with Jerku,Ramya and Appu. It was a total riot! Appu and myself climbed Half dome(up and down in like 8 hours),i had to climb with a sprained ankle which i had got while climbing mount hood a week before.Appu climbed 90% of the mountain because he was chasing to kill me as i had all the water.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22540176@N02/sets/72157623568039540/

Rainier It is..

(The ice chute on Kautz route -Photo plucked from IMG website)


My next climb is Rainier ..Kautz route - June 14-18, leave approved,got to intensify training.People say there is no such thing called over training for Rainier.This route is a more committed climb on mount rainier which stands at 14,411 feet.It will be a physical and mental hell fest.Would be interesting to put my ice climbing training in Ouray onto some real stuff and see how i would fare. 3 months to go!

Grief is a difficult emotion to handle.

10 Miles

I kinda owe this run to prashanth moorthy who happened to lend me water at 9.5 miles.I had to shout out to him for water halfway across the gym as i could feel myself getting dehydrated.He filled his entire bottle and gave it to me and said that i could return it the next day.Two sips of water did wonders for the last 0.5 miles.

I have realized that life is always directed by the pursuit of happiness and satisfaction.Thats the basic expectation from life.What happiness and satisfaction means is different for different people.

A video of quotes

Thanks to prani for pointing me to it.I dont know what quote would inspire you,but i sincerely hope atleast one does.

My favourite was

'You will never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore' - Columbus.