Beijing

Huge city, with an awesome night life. Heavy traffic during peak hours, but otherwise the roads are smooth and the freeways are not that bad. Surprisingly a lot of foreigners, and as expected a lot of people walking on the roads. I stayed in this beautiful city for a month and I can go back for sure. The food and high-end restaurants are the best part. Had a lot of meat. A LOT!! Roast duck was my favorite. Never had it before. The skin of the roasted duck is a delicacy you MUST have. Had sea otters. They were alright. Had some beef stomach which was good.

Went to the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace. Great Wall is truly amazing. We did walk a lot on it. Some of the slopes are very steep and you gotta hold the side rails to keep going. Easily the best thing I saw in China. We also went to Quin Dao (that is where the Chinese beer Tsing Tao is made). It is a nice city with ocean views and some beaches. Not as modern or developed as Beijing ofcourse, so I am guessing it was a more authentic experience of China.

I am so glad I had this opportunity. It is really great to have these experiences with different cultures, food and people. Even though language was a barrier I did everything that I wanted to. So no complaints.

Crater Lake debacle

What a turn of events!! We had a wonderful plan of going to Crater Lake this memorial day weekend. Sumera got sick, and spent a day in the hospital :(. We had to dump the plans. The rest of the group did make the trip. Well, what you gonna do. Eventually its all fine and she is in good health.
So the long weekend was either in the hospital or taking it easy at home. Can't complain though. Had fun watching movies :)
Here's five more songs from my top 25

• Free Falling
• Sweet home alabama
• Paint my love
• Wonderwall
• Don't know why
  

How Toyota Became #1

This book kept me engrossed. A must read for everyone. It talks about how toyota started from manufacturing looms to making fuel-efficient cars. David Magee dissects the whole Toyota Production System (TPS) which has some basic principles. Some I could grasp are

• strive for continuous improvement
• the five whys with which you uncover the source of the problem
  
• go to the source to problem and see it for yourself
• stop everything until you fix the problem
• think long term
• learn from failures

The book indicates that the principles are heavily influenced from a book written by Samuel Smiles called "Self Help". That should be a good one as well. Everyone knows the principles, but this book exemplifies how Toyota implements them. Truly one of the best books I've read.

Golden Gate Park

Our frequency of trips to SF have increased. Guess we have started liking it. Anyways. I refuse to believe the fact that I never went to the coolest place in the city until last weekend. Golden Gate Park is a must-see. The ambiance is just too good. A lot of stuff goes on, and if you prefer quiet places there's tons in that park. We peddled in stow lake, saw the Japanese garden and hiked a bit around the park.

Went to Dosa yesterday in the city (the fillmore one). It is one of the most high end Indian restaurants I have been to in US. Food was OK, but Kal got some awesome wines. Even though I pretended to be indifferent, they were amongst the best wines I have had. We had a very good time and was very different from the general hangouts I do with my friends from the company. Also it was the first time I ever spent so much time in a restaurant. Reached there at 6:20ish and left at around 9:30ish and I couldn't figure how time went by. FUN FUN!!

Now for five more out of my list of top 25

• Comfortably numb
• Crazy train
• Have you ever seen the rain
• Sweet child of mine
• With or without you

Enjoyyyyy!!!

Warriors vs. Spurs

This was my second live NBA game. The first one was an epic last year that Warriors played to get to the playoffs. This time it was the stupidest game of the whole season. Warriors were thrashed on Monday and the game was a disaster. Duncan and Parker were taken out after the first half. What a shame. Anyways, the seats this time were closer than the first time, and better as well. We did not wait for the game to finish (couldn't see more of the game. HAHAHA).

GO WARRIORS. WEEEEEEE BELIEVEEEEEEE. Hope they have a better season next time. I hate Spurs more since they thrashed the Warriors this bad.

Harding Park Golf Course

I had been there before to watch a PGA tour. This time I went to play. It was some experience. We did the whole gig. 18 holes, riding around in golf carts, in a very presumptuous mode, analyzing the wind movement before teeing, comprehending the breaks during putting, all in vain. I got a 124 in a course which was 72 par. LOL. Pretty decent for a first timer though.

Highlights of the whole experience
- When Meghneel found out that the golf kit he bought the previous day was for left handers.
- When we started smoking "Cuban" cigars (as per my super-boss they were Cuban and were Romeo Y Juliet, the brand banned in US.)
- Rishi and I won as a team by 2 shots.

Golf is tiring though and even though we had plans till night, we just gave up and went home.

Now for 5 more songs from my top 25

• Knockin on Heavens Door
• Girl on LSD
• Free bird
• Come as you are
• Enter Sandman

Enjoy!!!

Gun Control on Trial

Should the government have restrictions on owning guns? Are guns a privilege or are they above federal regulations and a constitutional right of a person? A coin has two sides to it and this book definitely tries to get a hold of the other side in which people are pro-gun and believe it as a tool for self defense. The author states the second amendment and tries to justify a ban on gun control regulations or policies by using that as a base. There are numbers that suggests that gun control does not reduce hate crimes. Canada has a lot of gun proliferation and the crime rate there is next to nothing compared to the States. A very interesting book and a must read if you are ready to be influenced by arguments.

Works is as good as it gets. For the first time, I am enjoying something to do with work. It involves working long hours sometimes, but is definitely worth the effort. Mom is gonna come here mid-July and eagerly waiting for that. I was watching some countdown on TV which inspired me to make a list of my top 25 songs.

I shall start by mentioning 5 (in no specific order). Do listen to these if you haven't already.

• What a wonderful world
• Sultans of Swing
• Nothing else matters
• Back to you
• Shook me all night long

This definitely doesn't have my no 1. So tune in later.