Astrophotos
Center of the Milky Way
Have you ever wondered how our own galaxy, Milky Way, looks like? On a dark night, one can make out a swatch of shimmering cloud like Milky Way go across the sky. But, we can’t see the center of the galaxy which is supposedly dense with stars and should be very bright. Our view of the center is obscured by clouds of gas and dust that is part of our galaxy. The image above is a mosaic of photos showing the center of the Milky Way, taken by Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared cameras. Click here for a higher resolution photo. The galactic center lies towards the constellation, Sagittarius and is about 26,000 light years away. We, in our solar system, truly live on the outer fringes of the galaxy.
Just think about it… Even at the speed of light, it will take us a lot more time than the period of documented human history on Earth, to reach the center of our own galaxy. There are many many billions of such galaxies in the Universe. Feel insignificant? Good. Remember that feeling next time you agonize and cry about your small little problems.
via, APOD
Adit at 2 weeks
Adit turned 2 week old yesterday. He seems to be doing well.
- His conehead is not as pronounced anymore and is becoming rounder. His eyes are not puffy and he can open both of them as the swelling has gone away.
- He is drinking well, gaining weight, and pooping a lot.
- He has figured out how to soak his clothes and his parents, the moment his diaper is taken off. If he keeps this going, potty training may not be very difficult for him.
- Some nights he slept well in 3-4 hour stretches, but last 2 nights, he has been staying up from 3 am to 5 am. It is still early to get his sleeping pattern stabilized.
- We have been so used to talking about our daughter for the last almost 3 years, that initially V kept refering to Adit with feminine pronouns all the time. It has significantly gone down in the last few days as we have taught ourselves the fact that we have a son and not a second daughter. We have been using some of Ashwini's old clothes for Adit. V has been giving a flimsy reason that those pink outfits and blankets were responsible for her mental slips.
Happy 2.833rd Birthday, Ashwini!!!
Ashwini’s portrait, taken at home.
- Ashwini had a nice Christmas holiday break. No daycare for 10 days. This was the longest break since our India trip last year. Her baby brother was born during that week to make things more interesting for us, parents. But, Ashwini enjoyed the time at home. She adores her brother, too. Wants to hold him and is very gentle with him most of the time. Sometimes, she gets very possessive about her things and doesn't want Adit to use them.
- Going back to daycare after the break wasn't a problem at all. She was happy to see all her friends and teachers. Didn't fuss about me leaving her there. Actually, it was just great to see her interact with Payton on that first day. Both were so happy to see each other. They were grinning from ear to ear and Ashwini was eager to show Adit's photos to her. I wished I had my camera with me to capture that moment.
- Ashwini's vocal capabilities have reached new peaks. She keeps using more and more new words and making more and more complicated sentences. She has been learning new songs and she likes to sing all the time. Also, she absorbs mannerisms from others and uses them correctly. For example, she said this to me while eating dinner, today: "I am sorry Daddy, but, I can not drink any more milk."
- Ashwini remembers whole stories, even to single phrases, just from hearing them over and over. Once in a while, I get tired of reading a story word to word from the book and I improvise from the pictures, and Ashwini stops me and says out the correct words and phrases from the book. The first time it happened, I thought it was just luck, but, she does it repeatedly. I have stopped improvising these days.
- While reading books, I noticed that Ashwini touches her chin with her finger and then turns the page. I don't know where she saw it, but, she must have seen someone wet their finger to turn the pages of a book. She tries to imitate it, but, not knowing what that action was she just touches her chin in stead of putting her finger in her mouth. I am glad she didn't copy what she saw correctly, this one time.
- Ashwini has been getting more and more stubborn. It is difficult to get her to do anything. She doesn't want to wake up in the morning, then she doesn't want to go to preschool, then she doesn't want to come home from preschool, then doesn't want to eat dinner, then doesn't want to stop playing to go to bed. I probably wrote about this last month too.
Another photo of Adit and Ashwini.
I liked this photo. Ashwini seems so happy holding her baby brother. At the same time, it makes me sick to my stomach as I realise the amount of responsibility that we have taken on for the next so many years.
Garrison Keillor
I am a big fan of Garrison Keillor and his radio show ‘A Prairie Home Companion’. Here are a couple of gems from the show…
- Marriage is God's way of keeping people from fighting with a complete stranger.
- Only men who ought to get married are men with pierced ears. They've experienced pain and they've bought jewelry.
Brokeback mountain
I have heard a lot of good reviews about this movie. But, I am not going to watch it. I am very impressionable (if there is such word) and easily gullible to any kind of sales pitch. I don’t want to confuse my mind with the ideas from the story of this movie. Larry David (Seinfeld co-writer) wrote exactly what I wanted to say in his NYTimes op-ed last week.
January 1, 2006 Op-Ed Contributor Cowboys Are My Weakness By LARRY DAVID
SOMEBODY had to write this, and it might as well be me. I haven’t seen “Brokeback Mountain,” nor do I have any intention of seeing it. In fact, cowboys would have to lasso me, drag me into the theater and tie me to the seat, and even then I would make every effort to close my eyes and cover my ears.
And I love gay people. Hey, I’ve got gay acquaintances. Good acquaintances, who know they can call me anytime if they had my phone number. I’m for gay marriage, gay divorce, gay this and gay that. I just don’t want to watch two straight men, alone on the prairie, fall in love and kiss and hug and hold hands and whatnot. That’s all.
Is that so terrible? Does that mean I’m homophobic? And if I am, well, then that’s too bad. Because you can call me any name you want, but I’m still not going to that movie.
To my surprise, I have some straight friends who’ve not only seen the movie but liked it. “One of the best love stories ever,” one gushed. Another went on, “Oh, my God, you completely forget that it’s two men. You in particular will love it.”
“Why me?”
“You just will, trust me.”
But I don’t trust him. If two cowboys, male icons who are 100 percent all-man, can succumb, what chance to do I have, half- to a quarter of a man, depending on whom I’m with at the time? I’m a very susceptible person, easily influenced, a natural-born follower with no sales-resistance. When I walk into a store, clerks wrestle one another trying to get to me first. My wife won’t let me watch infomercials because of all the junk I’ve ordered that’s now piled up in the garage. My medicine cabinet is filled with vitamins and bald cures.
So who’s to say I won’t become enamored with the whole gay business? Let’s face it, there is some appeal there. I know I’ve always gotten along great with men. I never once paced in my room rehearsing what to say before asking a guy if he wanted to go to the movies. And I generally don’t pay for men, which of course is their most appealing attribute.
And gay guys always seem like they’re having a great time. At the Christmas party I went to, they were the only ones who sang. Boy that looked like fun. I would love to sing, but this weighty, self-conscious heterosexuality I’m saddled with won’t permit it.
I just know if I saw that movie, the voice inside my head that delights in torturing me would have a field day. “You like those cowboys, don’t you? They’re kind of cute. Go ahead, admit it, they’re cute. You can’t fool me, gay man. Go ahead, stop fighting it. You’re gay! You’re gay!”
Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
Larry David appears in the HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
New Year's resolutions.
In my opinion, there is no sense in making New Year’s resolutions. They are bound to fail just by the nature of their design. These resolutions are some things that you want to do but aren’t doing already. It invariably means that it is something that you don’t enjoy doing. Just making a resolution doesn’t change that fact and hence, one tries to follow the resolution for some time by forcing themselves to do something that they don’t enjoy and eventually, stop doing it.
If it is an enjoyable activity, you’d be doing it already, you don’t have to make a resolution about it.
So, quit fooling yourselves with the resolutions. Just don’t make them. Accept the fact that there are some things that you don’t like to do and you won’t do them, no matter what.
Adit on day 5
Adit is a ‘natural born sucker’. He is very efficient about filling up his tummy.
His clock is still messed up. Likes to sleep during the day and stays up in the night. Hopefully, it will change to normal time soon.
His big sister just adores him. She is so gentle and careful. She wants to hold Adit in her lap and showers him with kisses. It just seems like she grew up a lot in the last few days. I always found Ashwini very delicate before Adit was born. But, after handling that little shrimp of a kid for a few days, Ashwini seems like a big, heavy girl. It is funny how things appear differently with a change in the frame of reference.
Adit
We are pleased to welcome the newest member of our family. Adit was born on the evening of Dec. 28th, 2005. He weighed 7.5 lbs and was 20 inches long at birth. Both Adit and V are doing very well.
Ashwini in 2005.
Review of what Ashwini did and how she looked as she grew up through 2005.
January 2005:
 | Ashwini's new wardrobe |
February 2005:
 | Fun in snow
From her birthday post: Her English and Marathi vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. She confused her kaka by asking ‘kaay aahe te?’ (what is that?) in marathi and he kept scratching his head in search of english words that fit those sounds. |
March 2005:
 | Ashwini turned 2 and loved blowing candles. She also started her swimming lessons, built a snowman, had a pajama day at school and enjoyed her first lollipop. |
April 2005:
 | From her birthday post: She can sing nursery rhymes from start to end. Many of them, she knows just by the sounds and doesn't understand the words. |
May 2005:
 | Ashwini realized the "MY" concept and also she was happy to get her own playset. Listen to her sing A B C D.... |
June 2005:
 | Ashwini loved watering our vegetable/flower garden all through the summer. She enjoyed blowing bubbles and also went on a field trip to a petting farm. We had The Incident at Check E. Cheese and then, there was a little boo-boo. |
July 2005:
 | From her birthday post: She is becoming more and more independent every day. Ashwini went on her first camping trip. She also got better with her doodles and listen to her sing a Marathi song. |
August 2005:
 | From birthday post: TV is slowly working its way into Ashwini's life. Along with Thomas, her current favorite TV show is "Blue's clues". Thankfully, her short attention span limits her TV watching to 15-20 minutes. She went on a field trip to a water park and learnt (from me) how to laugh like Dr. Evil. |
September 2005:
 | Ashwini started going to preschool. It was a big change in her life along with her new bed. She went to the beach on Lake Michigan and to Niagara falls. Ashwini also got her train set expanded. |
October 2005:
 | Told by her teacher: Ashwini is doing amazing with her letters and numbers. She is beyond all of her similar age peers in recognition. She can identify 1 to 10 as well as almost all the letters. Ashwini enjoyed the fall season and had fun on Halloween. She also made me feel very very special. |
November 2005:
 | From her birthday post: Ashwini is getting exposed to American football this year. I was watching a game and got excited about a play and started shouting, "touchdown... touchdown". Ashwini was standing near me. She promptly bent over and touched the ground. |
December 2005:
 | From her birthday post: It is becoming more and more difficult to get Ashwini to do anything. She just wants to keep doing whatever she is doing. In the morning, she doesn't want to wake up. After making her get out of bed, she doesn't want to change her clothes, then she doesn't want to eat any breakfast and then, she doesn't want to go to preschool. In the evening, she doesn't want to leave her classroom and come home. It almost seems like her every sentence begins with "I don't want to...". If it is like this at 2.75 yrs, I see very difficult teenage years in the future. |
Holiday cards 2005 - II
If you missed my earlier post about holiday cards, here it is again. Fill out this poll to receive a card from us. I am sending these cards out tomorrow. So, this is the last chance if you wish to receive one.
Wish you all Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.
Master's thesis in a trash
Linda Cerniglia lost her only copy of her Master’s thesis saved on a jump drive when a burgler stole her purse from her car. After a few hours of her own detective work and a dive inside a dumpster, her perseverance paid off and she found her purse with her jump drive in it. She graduated soon after that and everything worked out well. Read the whole story here.
I am just totally and completely amazed that this lady was so absolutely careless to have only one copy of her thesis on a small device that can be easily lost. I remember from my thesis-writing days that I used to back up my thesis on 2 computers (one at home and one at my lab) and one Iomega zip-drive every night.
Just to be the devil’s advocate: It almost seems unfair that Linda got her thesis back. She should have been punished for being so careless by making her write the whole thing again.
Left or right?
Every time I sit down for a proper ‘sit-down’ meal at a banquet or a reception, I instinctively choose the wrong set of glasses.
I am right-handed and I grew up eating food with my fingers. I still eat a lot of my meals at home with my fingers. For people who eat with their fingers, it makes sense to keep their glass of water on the left, so you can pick up the glass with the hand that is not involved in picking up food.
In US and Europe, When there are place-settings on a table, your glasses are always on your right. I have been told that many many times and I try to remember, but, every time I reach for a glass of water, it is usually the one on my left. I realize my mistake after I have made it and then, I have to exchange the glasses with my neighbour on the left side.
I have been through this so many times over all these years. Wonder how much longer I have to go before I remember to do it correctly. So, if you ever go to a banquet with me, and sit on my left side, I’ll probably hijack your glass of water.
Ashwini update
- Note from her teacher last week: Rachel asked Ashwini today when her baby brother was coming. Ashwini told her, "at Christmas. Santa is going to bring my baby brother." It was so cute. We played a matching game (like memory) and Ashwini was so advanced. A lot of children would just pick the same 2 in front of them every time. But, Ashwini remembered where the matching pieces were and picked them correctly. She was doing better than I did.
Little did Ashwini’s teacher know about the matching game. We have played that a few times before at home.
- Ashwini is developing some serious attitude. Here is a little snippet...
Me: Ashwini, take another sip of juice. A: I don’t want any more juice. Me: Come on, just one more sip. A: I don’t want any more juice, I said.
Dr. Suess
These days, Ashwini is into Dr. Suess books: The Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
These books are so wonderful. I absolutely love to read these rhyming stories to Ashwini. I can read these books all day long. Here is an example of some excellent poetry from One Fish, Two Fish.
This one, I think, is called a Yink.He likes to wink, he likes to drink. He likes to drink, and drink, and drink. The thing he likes to drink is ink. The ink he likes to drink is pink. He likes to wink and drink pink ink.
SO…. if you have a lot of ink, then you should get a Yink, I think.
I think it is one of the advantages of not growing up in US. I had not read any of Ashwini’s books as a child and I enjoy them as much as she does when I read them to her. I should get other Dr. Suess' books for Ashwini (and me) soon.
Happy 2.75th Birthday, Ashwini!!!
Ashwini still sleeps like a frog.
- Nov. 11, 2005: Ashwini and Payton were so cute outside this week. Payton pulled Ashwini in the wagon and they had a blast. Ashwini asked Payton to come over to her house and play with her toys. They are such gigglers when they play together these days.
- Nov. 18, 2005: This week I have been working with Ashwini on using certain scripts to help her talk to other children. Sometimes when other children cut in line in front of her or take toys that she is using, she doesn't say anything. So, I have been asking her if she likes that; if she says no, I give her a script to use like, "I was here first" or "I'm still using that. Wait till I am done." Hopefully, this will help.
- Dec. 1, 2005: It's fun to see how much of a difference a couple of months make. Ashwini is no longer interested in hanging out with me. Ashwini and Payton are best friends now. Their favorite activity is pretending in the play kitchen. It's fun to see them interact. We've also been working on some phonetic awareness (recognizing the sounds in words). Ashwini did great. She could point out objects that start with "S" and "G" sounds. This is a good step towards reading words.
- On Tuesday, it was "show and tell" day. All kids were to bring in toys that start with "S". Ashwini took her stuffed snake. She was wearing it around her neck like a scarf and showing everyone how it hisses through its mouth.
- It is becoming more and more difficult to get Ashwini to do anything. She just wants to keep doing whatever she is doing. In the morning, she doesn't want to wake up. After making her get out of bed, she doesn't want to change her clothes, then she doesn't want to eat any breakfast and then, she doesn't want to go to preschool. In the evening, she doesn't want to leave her classroom and come home. It almost seems like her every sentence begins with "I don't want to...". If it is like this at 2.75 yrs, I see very difficult teenage years in the future.
We are trying to find new ways to make her interested in doing things that we want her to do. These days, racing with her Aai to get ready in the morning seems to be working. But, don’t know how long it will work. We better start thinking about the next trick.
- Her memory just amazes me. Today, we were at a traffic light and the car ahead of us didn't move even when the light turned green. Ashwini blurted out, "Come on lady, let's go." I remember saying something like this at a traffic light maybe more than a month ago. She remembered it and used it at the right time.
Ashwini likes to play on her swingset in winter too.
Here is Ashwini one year ago.
This photo was shot in color and hasn't been tweaked to remove color.