To Blog or Not to Blog?

What is the ideal time to blog? Weekends, weeknights, anytime?Should I blog from work or from home? I am wrestling with the question when should I blog?
Should I blog only when something significant happens in my life?
Should I blog only when I am happy or upset?
Should I blog when things are going my way (or not)?
Should I blog when I need to share information?
Should I blog when I have opinions to share or views to propogate?
Should I blog to criticize or promote a view?
Should I blog to just show off or to spite?

Blogging is very much an evolving phenomenon as we speak and the rules of blogging etiquette are evolving. Of course anyone's blog is his or her own personal space but yet the question remains how much you want to let your audience know about your own personl life, is anononymity a good thing or a bad thing (After all some peoply misuse this)?

These thoughts entered my mind after I listened to this interview of an anonymous blogger (of course she was not anonymous anymore when CNN interviewed her on 360) who got fired from her job when she started commenting about her industry and her job!

Some food for thought.

Road Trip- Summer 2005

My upcoming road trip, starting tomorrow, significant statistics:

Miles: 2100 miles (yes, it was exactly 2100.00 miles!)
Trip duration: 6 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes
Driving time: 30 hours, 49 minutes
Driving through: IN, IL, TN, MO, AR, MS, LA, AL, KY and FL (yes, we also entered Florida unexpectedly!)
Significant stops: Sikeston, MO; Memphis, TN; Jackson, MS; New Orleans, LA; Ocean Springs, MS; Mobile, AL; Gulf Shores, AL; Orange Beach, AL; Perdido Keys, FL; Nashville, TN, Louisville, KY and Indianapolis, IN.

The Joy of Gardening

It is an amazing experience to watch any living organism grow, be it a pet, a plant, or even a baby! I don’t have any pets or babies but D and I are cultivating a number of plants this summer. A two minute, short walk from our apartment is our garden, courtesy the University’s friendly policy that allots land that we can use to cultivate flowers or vegetables. I must confess this was never my idea to begin with and I went along with D’s enthusiasm to grow our own food. She has toiled for the past two and half months since we have had the garden, ploughing the land, seeding, watering and tending to the plants. I only accompanied her on our evening walks and watched her water the plants, never once lifting a finger. About two weeks ago, I think the gardening bug bit me when I offered to help her clean out some weeds. Little did I know at that time what I was about to experience would be so profound that it would affect me deeply i.e. watching plants grow. It is an indescribable feeling if you consider how a tiny scrap of land, that you till and in which a seed is planted, breaks out to give a tiny leaf which then blossoms into a plant. There is a lot to appreciate in this beautiful gift of nature. The analogy to our own lives is remarkable, how we have come a long way from being ‘seeds’ our selves to mature independent trees ready to bear fruit.

In addition to the shear joy of gardening there is another aspect to it, the physical experience that gardening provides is also amazing that one must only experience this to believe it. Talk about bearing the fruit of one’s own labor. This has made me realize that how learned and successful one gets in life and how much ever money one makes there are actually very small and invaluable moments that nature provides for free! These are what I call the simple pleasures and joys of life.

My Trips to Chicago

The advantage of my present campus location is its proximity to the Chicago Metropolitan area. I have been to Chicagoland atleast a couple of dozen times not to mention catching the international flights to India. Chicago is one of those wonderful, vibrant and beautiful cities. There are so many things to do in Chicago that I sometimes feel the day long trips I often make are insufficient to enjoy my time there. I have enjoyed my time along the beautiful Lake Michigarn shore, downtown with the fantastic museum (though, I must confess it was no match for the Met in NYC), Michigan avenue, US cellular field (Twins vs White sox in the Summer of 2003), a conference in McCormick Place (which purportedly claims to be the biggest convention centre) to name a few. Of course being the Desi that I am, I also cannot but enjoy the ambience of Devon Avenue. Its always a great feeling to go there and find the latest music cassettes, CD’s, movies, chaat and the great food! It’s always a new experience visiting Devon, and if only I had the time to re-capture every single happening

D and I celebrated our first anniversary with a visit to the Aurora temple. The Aurora (www.balaji.org) along with the Lemont temple (http://www.ramatemple.org/) are the most popular temples in the Chicagoland area. It’s always a very moving spiritual experience to visit both these places and I feel fortunate to be able to visit these places as often as I do. This time around we also went to the new Shirdi Sai temple on IL-47 in Hampshire, IL (http://www.saibaba.us/index.html). A friend recently mentioned the opening of the Swaminarain Mandir in Schaumburg with its great architecture, hopefully we will get another opportunity to check it out on our next visit.

The drive to Chicago is always fun-filled and adventurous and this time around I wanted to explore alternate routes, without spending too much on the toll-ways and it was interesting driving through some of the neighborhoods. All in all a great couple of weeks. I could not help but document here for the record that I traveled more than a 1000 miles in the last 10 days. To Chicago and back on the 25^th, to Indianapolis on the 29^th to the airport, to celebrate S’s birthday at his place, the drive to OHare to drop off S’s mom along with all the extended family members on the 4^th of July!

Another big road trip is coming up as D and I gear up to travel 1800 odd miles through the mid-west and the south to visit the big-easy for a conference. This will be the longest road trip I have ever under-taken through 8 states and visiting the Gulf of Mexico. 7 days, 1800 miles, I can’t wait.