2 months and too many things..

My best friend Dilip, who is a fan of my writing, reminds me that he badly misses my blogs these days. So I am back to drain all the things that were clogged in my head for the past 2 months. Don't blame me if it stinks :D

May 8th: Left for California, to finalize on our new home. NetApp was calling, and after spending 3 months here last summer, I knew we had to act fast, if we needed a good house. I had booked a Nissan Altima, for rent, but it turned out that they din't have any of it that day. So, I upgraded to a Chrysler 300 for an additional $5 a day. And wow, it was an amazing car. Sheer power, and a pleasure to drive. I started looking for houses, and I immediately liked the house, that we are currently in. It was real good deal for a 3-bed, and it was just 2 miles from NetApp. So, that very day, after talking to Parag and Manish, I finalised the house.

May 17th: The primary purpose of coming to the US was successfully completed this day. I was declared a Computer Scientist, well officially. I have already been called that unofficially by my friends before :D. That was close to a perfect day. We got hooded, took pictures, had a good lunch, a small nap and then to top all of that, an excellent dinner with all my friend's parents. Quadir and Sanket, had taken a lot of pain, to get 7 of us a beautiful photo frame, with our graduation photos in them. The photo they put in that frame, was one of the best of mine ever. I remember telling myself that I should write a blog about this one day.

May 20th: Finally a trip to the Grand Canyon. Yes, i hadn't seen GC in the 2 years that I was in Arizona. Anyway, Parag, his sister, bhakti, me and Vad had a great time at GC. We stayed overnight at Flagstaff, and reached GC in the morning. GC is just breath-taking. You have to see it to appreciate it. No amount of photos do justice to this nature's wonder.

May 23rd: Trip to Florida with my PESIT Pals, VK, Sohan and Harish. I flew into Dallas on 23rd. VK and me took the early morning flight to Tampa Bay on 24th. We picked up Sohan, and went to Universal Studios. Harish joined us at night, and visited Disney World and Clearwater beach over the next 2 days. We had a scary incident at Tampa, where we almost drove close to the runway of the airport, thanks to a dumb GPS. It asked us to make a right turn, and we followed it blindly. It was dark, and it took a few minutes to realize that we were in a prohibited zone.

May 28th - Jun 8th: Had one of the best times in Tucson. Stayed at 2201 Park Adams, because our lease at Crossroads had ended on 31st May. We had so much fun everyday. Pending treats, pot-lucks, farewell dinners, evening tea which overlapped with dinner most times. And yeah, Poker night, in which Quadir Bhai was finally dethroned. Parag bought his Nissan Sentra SE-R. He got an awesome deal, and he had made his biggest purchase ever.

Jun 9th: After all the goodbyes, we leave for California along Cal-1, with Parag and me time-sharing the driver seat. We halted at Santa Barbara for the night. Had a very good dinner at Taj in SB downtown. We drove along the scenic Cal-1 route the next day. It was an awesome drive, 200 miles parallel to the pacific. Some very scenic views, although I must say the Pacific stinks because of the weeds in the sea. Enter bay-area, and I get my first ticket, for driving with a California license. Yes, you read it right. The officer told me that my Arizona license was invalid, and so my California license is invalid too. Don't ask me how , why. He just wanted to give me ticket, it seems.

Jun 11th - July 3rd: We start our marathon shopping session, which by the way, is still going on. It was my first time, settin up a new house. I give my California License test again (4th time I was giving an IP), and come out in flying colors, and ofcourse a paper CA temporary license and a punched AZ license :P. I joined netapp on 16th June. Manish started at Juniper the same day. Parag, who was chauffering us for a week, joined Netapp on 23rd. I get my first pay-check, and am devastated after looking at the take-home. Man, Uncle Sam eats 40% of my bread, and he expects me to pay 8% sales tax for the butter.


July 4th: I walk into the Nissan dealership, and after 6 hours of haggling + waiting + signing contracts walk out empty-handed. I just booked my Nissan Altima. It would be delivered to me on July 7th.

July 7th: I picked up my brand new Altima. Drove it to Uncle's house, and did a small pooja for the car. The best car, I have driven so far.

So, that much for 2 months. The brain has drained, and so has the stomach, and off I go to eat.