Ahoy!

Howdy cyberfolks! Just writing in to say hello from chilly Fremont. Well, the section of Fremont that we live in anyway. We're huddled around our heater every night trying to stay warm these days. We've also been buying new winterwear. This is odd, because both App and I haven't bought much new winterwear since our first winter in the USA when we absolutely needed the basic fleece, sweaters etc.
I don't know when I will be able to go to the mountains to snowboard. Even though it has been cold, we haven't had much precipitation, so it's a bit of wait and see.
I've been trying to call and announce in person, but for those I haven't gotten around to talking with - App is pregnant and we are expecting our first baby in June next year!
Yes, its exciting and all very scary! :)
Our friends Mahesh and Shuba will be there first though, their baby boy is expected at the turn of the year and it will be fun to see how they cope.
We have a holiday party coming up at App's workplace and we are going to be dressed up for it. Should be fun. Also watch out for the "Train of Lights" - a Niles special.
Adios for now.

I'll just eat one more!

He he he! I know exactly how that feels!

Wine of the last 3 months

Wine of the last 3 months
Originally uploaded by Jillako.

Consumption has been down but quality of the wines has been superb :)

BBC NEWS Flash : Penguins beat Bond at US cinemas

Hey App, I told you this Happy Feet movie thing looked cool. Apparently I wasn't the only one since the movie beat the much hyped Bond movie at the box office this weekend!

Read Penguins beat Bond at US cinemas.

So, we got to see the #2 movie of last weekend - "Casino Royale" and we have to say, we agree with the reviews. It was a refreshing Bond movie. This one was about Bond in the beginning, when he becomes 007. In the key of other such origin movies ("Batman Begins"), this one is also successful. The Bond girls were so-so, and much of the attention was on Mr. Daniel Craig. He fits the role well for this movie. It will be interesting to see him in the next Bond movie though. Let's talk about it here in 2008, then.

Footnote for Ranjit (who didn't buy Daniel's british accent in this movie): Arjun tells me that Mr. Craig is Australian.

Footnote for Arjun (who will have to wait a few more weeks to see the movie): The movie had a simultaneous release in India, even having been dubbed in Tamil for the local movie halls of TN. :) Oz needs to catch up.

Fuel prices are ok now, I need a RAM price drop!!

Has anyone tried upgrading the memory on their computer recently? I want to upgrade the memory on my WinXP computer that I built about 4 years back when I was single. I paid about $60 bucks back then for two 256MB sticks of DDR RAM and I've just about had it with 512 MB on my machine!! So, it's 4 years since and I go shopping for an additional 512MB RAM and what do I find? I can buy some no-name brand memory for about the same 60 bucks that I paid 4 years back. If I want a decent brand, then the prices are insane, like 80 to 90 bucks!! What is going on? Do we have a RAM chip shortage? You know something is wrong when I can buy flash memory for about 1/4 the cost of similar RAM!!

Mike, if you're reading this, I should've held on to my old laptop memory. Who would've thought that it would grow in value as it aged.. like fine wine?

I'm starting to think that flash memory should replace all memory. We already know that flash memory is replacing hard drives in some lightweight computers. Now, make some flash memory that is fast enough to replace RAM and bring the size and prices down!! Please..

It's the week of Zune, PS3 and Wii

Joy of Tech has a humorous take on the Zune. Like the PC & Mac ads from Apple.

My younger sister ramya's wedding is fixed :)

My younger sister Ramya's marriage has been finalized. Everyone in my family is very excited about it. Her engagement is on Nov 19th and her wedding is on Jan 29th. Arvind and I are going to India for two weeks to attend the wedding. I'm very very excited for my family and the fact that I could attend the wedding. Its been a long time since I visited India. I'm planning to do some shopping, relax, enjoy the wedding with my parents and inlaws and return happily knowing that both my sisters are here in US and I can visit them whenever I want to...