One more week!!

I am excited. Next week same time i will be in Talkeetna preparing for my climb.Last minute shopping to be finished today and tomorrow.

I just witnessed the death of a small dog while coming from office. The scene of the dead dog and the owner crying uncontrollably beside it was heartbreaking. Death hurts.

My new spantiks!!Yoohoo!!They really look snazzy,isn't it!! :)

'Sore butts are not a happy feeling'

My butt is sore and my leg aches with every push.I have a very new appreciation to the likes of armstrong's,contador's,schlek's who participate in the tour de france and have begun to accept them as super-human's.I have no bloody damn clue how they manage to ride 3000 odd Kms in 20 odd days.I bow down to them,their motivation, their super human strength and pain thresholds.

Today i was extremely motivated and pushed myself to do a 41 mile bike ride on my road bike.Let me tell you a 'life' lesson learnt - 'sore butts are not a happy feeling'. I could not sit on my bike for the last few miles.My legs hurt with every pedal stroke and i literally cried when i finally got off my bike. I could not walk for the first five minutes and was hobbling around like a penguin. Then came the task of lifting and taking my bike four levels up to my house on the stairs.That, My dear friends is pain personified!! None of you should ever go through that and if you piss me off i will definitely wish that pain upon you as it was the most unbearable pain ever!!Imagine a really sore butt and failing legs and having to climb four floors with the a bike on your shoulders.

All in all i was really glad when i came back home and simply dumped everything and flopped on my bed and that was the most heavenly feeling ever.I could hear my butts almost smothering me with their thank yous and in matter of minutes i happily drifted off to sleep.

On 'hind' thought i think it was a painful experience 'Butt' I feel I should take another shot at it.

Some people are stupid and never learn.Do they :)

Go Yanni!!

This was a long time coming but it finally happened.Having listened to Yanni for years I finally got to see him perform live in San francisco last weekend.It was fun and his group played a really good collection of songs.I had great company with my cousins and it was a gorgeous day at SFO topped with some amazing Masala dosa and sambar vada at a place called 'DOSA' in downtown SFO.You couldn't ask for more!!

My Mountain Hardware absolute zero parka is here.Supposedly the warmest and burliest parka on the planet.It is worn in all the extreme places on earth(Everest,north pole, Antarctica,..you name it and its been there).People dream about owning a lot of things in life but i am willing to bet it will not be the warmest piece of clothing ever invented by Man till date. :) Even i did not but i just did dibs on that.:) Born in one of the warmest places on the planet and currently living in one of the coldest places and in a month going to one of the most extreme places on planet earth.People talk about diversity in many different ways,can it get more diverse than this? :)


Below is a cute model trying it out.

no more sorrow

It was one of the coolest concerts i had gone to, better than their 2008 concert at the same venue.
Prani and myself had gone to the Linkin park concert on Jan 28th at the Excel energy center in St.Paul. Pushed and squeezed ourself to the front and it was well worth the effort.Seeing them up close was really something.Guess we squeezed the maximum juice out of our lemons.Lol!!

Some videos and photos from the concert.

Poomplamoose

check them out on Youtube, they are an extremely creative couple who have risen to fame by recreating and recording music in their rooms.The girl is extremely cute.

I simply forget how awesome 'queen' is. Heard this after a long time,truly classic.

An experiment in -30F

Nature is simply amazing..

I felt as if i met god!

Well almost..Atleast i know how it might feel if i accidentally met god!Hmm.. whom did i meet that deserves such comparisons to the great one itself? Please bear in mind that there are different religions,different beliefs and different gods for different people,a god for one need not be a god for another,so you will have to read this with a pinch of salt expecting an anti-climax.:) But heck,this is my blog!

Not digressing let me continue, I had gone on a 3 day ice climbing trip to Ouray,yes,once again!I loved that place so much last year,i had to visit the 'switzerland of united states' once more and climb there.It was three days of great climbing with its own stories which i will fast forward and get to the third day evening which was our last night at Ouray. We were having dinner at a place called 'The outlaw',a so called wild west themed restaurant with all cowboy outfits,horse shoes,cowboy photos adorning the walls.

Phillip,Gary,Chuck and myself were having a swell time having good food and recollecting the last three day events and pulling each other's legs.Then suddenly we hear a 'Happy birthday' song,we turn and see its a young girl with two adults two tables behind us and its the young girls birthday.We turn around to look,smile and return back to our talking.

But that momentary glance left me feeling funny,i felt that i somehow had seen one person in that table somewhere else,I could not figure out who immediately.I glanced back couple of times but could not get a complete view as the person was turned in an angle where i could just see the side profile.I kept racking my brain while i was talking with my friends to figure who it was.

We were done with our dinner and had paid our bills and were ready to leave.As we were leaving I had one last look at this person and suddenly it dawned upon me that this person looked like Dave Hahn.I stopped Phillip who was reaching for the restaurant door and said 'Hey Phillip,doesn't that guy in that corner look like Dave Hahn?'.Phillip had a look and said 'He does look like Dave Hahn,lets check'.So both of us turn back and go over to this person's table.I remember clearly the sequence of events only till this point,The next few minutes are a total blur to me because of my excitement on realizing who the person was and i think this is how the conversation happened.

I say ' Excuse me'.This person looks up.'You look very familiar,Are you by any chance Dave Hahn?'.He says 'Yeah,I am Dave Hahn'. I am almost ready to faint.I can feel my heart pumping and my breathing getting heavy.
I think i said a series of 'Wow','I just can't believe it' and lot of other 'being awed' gibberish and having this feeling of being light headed. I ask 'I guess you have climbed everest..like.. 11 times?'. He says 'From what i can remember,i think the count last was 12'. That's it,It became beyond me to digest and comprehend anything anymore,I was kind of in a delirious state, I dont remember anything beyond that, I vaguely remember telling him about me being from India,how i admire him,etc,etc,etc ...I don't even know what Phillip said to him. I say inbetween 'Can we have a picture with you' and he says 'Sure'. The other gentleman at Dave's table offers to take the photo and clicks two photos.I gushingly say 'Its been an absolute privilege meeting you' or something like that and we depart.


In the photo below you can see Dave sitting behind us.From Left to right - Me,Phillip,Chuck and Gary.



Two photos Phillip and I took with Dave Hahn.



Some stats i pulled from Wiki on Dave Hahn -
In May 2010 he reached the summit of Mt. Everest for the 12th time - the most for a non-Sherpa climber.[1] Among Hahn’s other notable accomplishments are his world-record 26 summits of Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest mountain. He has been to the summit of Mount McKinley (originally called Denali) in Alaska, North America’s highest peak, 19 times over the course of 26 expeditions.


This guy is like a living climbing legend,he was part of the expedition which discovered George Mallory's body on everest.He is one the climbers i have admired a lot and been in awe of his super human capabilities.I had not thought in my wildest dreams that i will ever meet him in person in my lifetime. I guess destiny has a weird way of inter-crossing people lives and I sure am thankful to her for letting me meet Dave Hahn which has left a very deep impact on me.

Advanced Scuba diver.

Yay!! I am a PADI certified advanced scuba diver.I got my PADI card in mail today.Got certified at Key Largo on Christmas day.

That's me and my instructor Jason Nocks from Pirate island divers.

“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.