Astrovelo

There are 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. All the incisors have come in. The canines have decided to be fashionably late and now 2 molars on the top are showing their presence.

Last month, we started brushing Adit’s teeth with a tiny finger brush. He just loves it (probably likes eating the toothpaste) and wants to brush his teeth every time we go in the bathroom.

A couple of days ago, I went for my first ever visit to the Emergency Room. I have been there plenty of times before with the kids, but never for myself.

While cutting grass in the yard, something went in my eye. Didn’t know if it was a bug or dirt or a piece of grass or a woodchip. It stung my eye, but as usual, I ignored it. As I was washing up after coming inside, I noticed that the eyeball was fiery red and swollen. Putting in Visine reduced the redness but the swelling was still there. That got me concerned.

I drove myself to the University of Michigan hospital and I could still see properly with my eyes and didn’t want to disturb kids' bedtime. Surprisingly, the ER wasn’t too crowded. I had to wait only one hour after registering in. As it is a teaching hospital, by the time I was interviewed and checked by the nurse, the medical student, the resident and the fellow, more than another hour had passed by. The resident put a dye in my eye and checked the cornea through a microscope to look for scratches and thankfully, there were none. By the time the attending physician came to see me, my eye was almost back to normal. I liked her comment after she checked me out. She said,“It is good to see that we cured another patient without any treatment.”

So, in the end, everything was alright. If I had stayed home for those 3 hours, my eye would have come back to its normal condition, but it was good to know that there was nothing wrong. I don’t mind losing an arm or a leg, and I know that hearing loss is in my future due to all the abuse, but I can’t imagine my life without eyesight. Thanks to some good inherited genes, I still have a 20/20 vision and need no corrective lenses. Without eyesight, I won’t be able to enjoy my hobbies: astronomy and photography. That would be very bad. I think after eyesight, taste and then smell are important to me.

What is your most treasured body part/sense?

Interesting description for this house in the ad.

Owner must be a firm believer in feng shui.

Yahoo! Mail now provides unlimited storage for no cost.

I only hope they continue to support the classic view and not upgrade everyone to the new version that looks like Outlook and Hotmail. I like Yahoo! Mail classic for its simplicity and don’t want all the other fancy crap and ads.

Decided to cash in a big coin jar that sat on the kitchen table. I didn’t like using coinstar because they charged counting fees (8.9c per dollar). They still charge the same fee, but if you decide to take a “Amazon.com” gift certificate instead of cash, there is no counting fee. Now, that is a good deal. Here is what the receipt said:

For all the coins that we collected during our 5 years in Michigan, the total came out to be $173.71. Good enough amount to apply towards buying a camera lens from Amazon.com.

Blooming Crabapple

Young Maple leaves


Dandelion seeds

As of today, everyone in our household has the same status as far as the government is concerned. V and I took the oath at the naturalisation ceremony to become bona-fide US citizens. Although we are quite proud to be US citizens, please don’t congratulate us. It was very sad to give up our Indian citizenship. I consoled myself saying that all these countries and boundaries between them are not really real, they are just drawn on paper. In reality, we are citizens of the Earth. That doesn’t change with this ceremony. It doesn’t feel any different to be a US citizen. We are still breathing the same air and paying the same taxes.

Also, I didn’t feel that it was a big achievement. There were some people that were taking photos and videos at the ceremony as if it was their graduation or wedding. We just couldn’t understand why. All it took us was filing the right forms and satisfying residency requirements, etc. It also helped not being a member of the communist party or not being associated with the German Nazi or any other fascist regime. Our high moral character was also important in getting our application approved. It is good that we are not habitual drunkards or drug addicts or practice polygamy. Surprisingly, there was nothing about polyandry in the application form. That must not be immoral.

I sincerely think that the ideas described in the “Decleration of Independence”, the “Constitution” and the “Bill of Rights” are fundamentally great and I feel proud to be a part of the nation that is built upon those. I wish the signature on the letter that I received from the White House was of somebody else, but now I get the right to vote and a chance to choose the next President in 2008.

There are various advantages of being a US citizen.

• First one is getting the right to vote. I really missed voting for the last 16 years since I was out of India during all the elections since 1991.
• No need to get pesky visas to visit most countries in Europe, South America and most of far east Asia.
• I'll be called on for jury duty, which could be quite boring, but I hope to send a pedophile to the electric chair if given a chance.
• As part of the oath, I swore to bear arms, if called by the United States. Finally, I may get to fire a gun. Yay!

Adit is learning from Ashwini how to dance. Yellow tweety bird hanging on the door is the source of music. [youtube www.youtube.com/watch

Here is Ashwini at 17 months dancing with the same tweety bird. [youtube www.youtube.com/watch

I don’t have the necessary software to make this video right side up. But, it is obvious that Adit is learning to dance earlier than Ashwini because he has a in-house trainer.

Is there anybody who uses Twitter? If you do, can you please add me to your list? My ID is garap.

One of the many many reasons I want to visit Alaska is this…

Aurora in Alaska