Well, not really it wasn't that bad, but it makes for a great title
After almost 1 year of blogging silence i finally have time to report some stuff.
Ok onto the good stuff; I went whitewater rafting yesterday in West Virginia. But before i start my obviously exaggerated near death experience, i must tell you that there was a storm (named Ernesto) over the weekend around the east coast of US (namely Virginia/DC). Now, how does that make a difference? Well it converted the easy 2.5 rapid to approx. level 4.
So i was there with my friend and his wife; btw, these guys were more experienced than i was but i rated myself the best as i believed myself to be a pretty good swimmer and given a situation this skill would help me or so i thought! Now before we started, the rafting guys teamed up people into groups with a guide assigned to them. This guide would be the one to command everyone on what they need to do, e.g. paddle forward, backward or shift one side, etc. But for some odd reason (which became apparent later) they put all Indians there (7 of us) on one raft with this "guide" who probably wasn't older than 21.
Now, I really don't care who was on the raft but these 4 guys who joined us were all complete mama's boys. None of them knew how to swim, didn't seem to be in any decent shape (no offense) and just refused to do anything the guide told them to. Onto the guide, the dude was pretty chill, and probably more than he should have been. I mean he as a guide needs to tell people what exactly needs to be done, but instead he probably felt he could handle the raft by himself.
Yea that didn't happen.
Now i am not saying that the guy didn't know what he was doing, i am sure he grew up around the area and probably is pretty darn good himself but he sure wasn't a great
Guide. But to his credit this stuff happens so i got no problems.
Alright continuing the story; i have been told (and I can be completely wrong here) that when you hit a high rise rapid you should always go in with the boat's front end towards it (oh btw, me and my friend volunteered to sit right in the front
) Anyways, we went through couple of easy rapids having fun (although a fat guy kept falling on my friend's wife). But even during all this easy stuff, i wasn't too sure that we were being steered properly, because we were constantly hitting tree branches, dead roots and big rocks, while the other rafts were doing just fine.
A little while later, our guide told us that we were progressing towards this big surge of water which lead into the "rocky steps" as they call it in WA, and asked us to paddle forward hard. Now let me tell you something about myself, when i am in these adventure sport type "things", i give my best to it, i mean i was paddling like there was no tomorrow. But ofcourse the 4 mama's boys were busy splashing the water rather than putting some muscle in. And guess what because of that the week paddle power Vs the boat weight, we weren't balanced on both sides and our raft turned sideways right before the surge and in a microsecond we were all lifted off the raft and thrown in the middle of the rocky area. While in mid air my biggest fear was that i might get stuck beneath the raft, but fortunately i was thrown pretty far from it.
I suddenly remembered my awesome swimming skills and tried to swim upstream (yea thought i could), but soon realized i was going no where and wouldn't be able to reach the raft. Meanwhile my friend held onto the flipped raft by the side rope trying to stay afloat. A few moments later when i looked up i saw a guide from another raft trying to flip the raft over. My friend was on the other side of the raft so he didn't see him, and let me tell you if it wasn't for me screaming at him like a little girl, the guide would have flipped the raft onto a already badly injured person, pushing him back onto the rocks. Although his wife was smart and just let go of everything and started floating on her life jacket (or she was pure lazy
). So after saving one life and accounting for another, i thought i should save mine, so i started swimming toward the other rafts and duckies (a local slang word for this one man kayak sort of tube boat).
One of the guides threw a rope towards my friend, who missed it so i thought i should try and catch it. But instead the guide felt like i could save myself (which i did) and pulled the rope back for another try at my friend. Anyways after almost 15-20 minutes in there, I had taken in a lot of water and had failed to reach any of the rafts (primarily because with the life vest on you can't really swim). So i decided that i needed a plan B.
Right up front I saw a dead root approaching pretty fast and decided to go for it. But i almost missed it while trying to avoid a head on collision with it. Luckily though i grabbed onto one of the extended branches and tried to pull myself up. Now it can't be that easy, so while i was trying to pull myself up, there was this huge tarantula sitting next on the same branch I was holding onto. But I wasn't gonna let go!, but i didn't wanna die to spider sting either.
So ... ? Well nothing i just pulled myself up onto the other side of the root, at the same time tyying really hard not to agitate the multi-legged creature. Man, let me tell you that feeling to be able to sit and breathe,
priceless!
From there on i jumped onto another raft that was passing by and started rowing upstream towards my friend who was stuck on one of the rocks and was pretty banged up. That rowing effort was pretty tough but all the guys in this raft were just amazing. Even after we managed to get right next to him, he refused to move as his leg was hurting real bad. Eventually one of the guides jumped in the water and pulled him along and then onto my newly found raft.
Now for those who think this ain't a big deal and it happens while rafting, i must tell you it was a really high surge and we all fell on the rocks directly, any wrong landing could have had disastrous results (yea, i am exaggerating a bit but it could have happened
).
We all pulled over to the side, took a breather in and then went back to our raft to complete the ride. Now i was hurt badly around both my knees and i knew it was gonna be even worse the next morning (it is right now) but i wasn't gonna stop, because frankly it was fun and a cool experience.
The mama's boys, were petrified to death, and couldn't understand what had happened to them. Btw, they were screaming at top of their lungs while in water. Now you would think going through all this, these guys would want this not to happen again, atleast for the rest of the day. But instead trying to put some effort, this time they stopped doing anything at all. Well, I just dove off because I was tired after the swimming (well the trying to swim) for a long time and the upstream rowing effort, hence i wanted these guys to pull their weight. But sadly even after telling them aggressively to put a muscle in, they just didn't do anything more than the usual splashing. We almost fell again, twice! Either way the guide, me and my friend pulled hard to get us through and without any more adventures.
As soon as we touched the shore all four of these guys just started jumping off, my friend had to ask them to chill and get off one by one else they would topple us over again. Man they were some really big *#$#@#&.
Anyways, all in all it was fun. I enjoyed it.
I got my money worth, and tomorrow at work this will make a great topic for discussion
Well, recently I was in the market for a new Car. I needed a car that i could hold onto for a while, something sturdy enough to last for sometime. Now, i wasn't going to pick the first car i drove, so I planned on Test driving say some 15 cars
... It took me a month of test driving; I drove anything that had four wheels on it, from hyped up "high brand" cars to the lesser known ones, i tried them all. After having been to nearly every dealership in 4 States (yea you read it right 4!), I came up with list of cars i thought had something different about them.
Btw, I was looking for
Sport coupes only within an reasonable price range, a car which had some raw power and lots of real attitude. Not surprisingly there weren't many that met these criteria.
I didn't really care about how famous the brand was, my goal was to get a really good car which i can look forward driving every day. That is why you won't see a review below on a BMW or Mercedes (btw I test drove them too. Sorry Saurabh, i know you love your BMW, but it ain't my kinda car).
Following are my reviews for each of those cars. I am not going to give you the stated facts like most review sites do; you can get thousand of those by simply googling for it. Instead i going to share my personal opinion about each car from a prospective buyer's perspective, who wants the best value for his money.
Ok here we go, first up is a car that my friend Biz recommended to me.
Mazda RX8 '05
Mazda, the brand isn't known for sport coupes, but then again RX8 isn't a regular sport coupe, it is something no other car manufacturer offers. A highly buffed up version of RX7, this machine runs on a revolutionary engine which has no pistons, no valves and none of the other regular stuff; it's a Rotary Engine. I am not a mechnical engineer but what i know about this engine is that it gives really high RPM counts, (this one red lines at 9k) which results an extremely smooth ride; I don't have the words for what i felt during the short drive, all i can say is the car had a beautiful grip and before you know it, you are way over the legal speed limit.
A Car with an attitude of its own, featured in the movie X-men; yea it does have that look and power to back it up, equivalent to 238 hp on a manual shift. Interiors are very professionally done, giving it a rightful sporty look with all the correct mix of colors and with some classy touches such as matching color thread-woven design for the gear stick.
For comfort check, had an average height friend sit in the back, her thoughts were neutral but expressed that she would have loved to have some more leg room, but not a big concern for me (hell i am never gonna be there).
Btw, I hate when people compare two totally differently built cars; for example I have heard some comparing RX8 with Nissan 350Z, to that i just have to say, Drive'em both! Just feel'em out, apart from the Exterior looks, i don't think 350Z compares to RX8 at any level.
3 Good Things:
- The 6 speed Manual Transmission was a real smooth drive, very easy to get accustomed to
- Half Sport doors for the rear seat entry; a real handy feature and the doors do not interfere in the overall coupe look
- Nose dips beautifully around 90 mi/hr providing a true Aerodynamic body
3 Not so good ones:
- Like any true race-like car, needs careful maintenance, at times very precise requirements; known for overflow problems
- One of the worst Fuel Economy in its segment. This was a real concern, especially with current gas prices
- Gets a little steep on price after adding necessary accessories, especially for a car with a starting price of around 27k (for the manual)
-
Starting Price: ~27,400 (manual)
-
When appropriately equipped: ~34,000 (Rotary and Appearance package, Leather seats, 6-disc CD changer, cassette player - for mp3 player connectivity, rear wing spoiler)
-
Dealership ready to make a deal: Hmm, hard to say, i didn't negotiate much, but seemed like he would have given me a good deal, especially if had the car i wanted. I felt if i was going to spend 34k, there might be other options worth exploring.
Mazda has reduced the price considerably from their last of RX series but i feel when decently equipped it is still a bit too pricy for the value you get. Wait Wait, before you RX8 fans bomb me with emails, i would like to say i loved the driving experience, handles really really well, it is the closest you can get to a race car experience at this price. But i feel it will make a great second car!
As I was looking for my first (in the US), this one didn't exactly hit me; there was something missing. The looks of the car were awesome but somehow didn't meet my taste. So makes it to my top 5 based on a great driving experience but falls short of the number 1 pick.
My Ratings:
- Driving Experience: 8.5/10
- Value for money: 6.5/10
After absorbing the power and uniqueness of RX8, i was in the mood for something different, something that was completely new and not many people had it, so i went for 06 model
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT '06
Mitsubishi, a brand not known for high quality and sturdy cars. The dealership guy told me upfront, if you are looking to sell this car later, it has one of the worst resale value (not the car but the brand in itself). Little disheartened by that not because i was planning to sell it but just because of this statement coming from the dealer himself. Later, the dealer tried to sell me a pre-owned Audi TT, it was then i realized this dude's main focus was to sell pre-owned cars and supposedly they make a bundle on that.
Either way, i had seen many photos of the car and i wanted it to experience it for real, so we went ahead. The first thing you see in this car, is its LOOKS ... Really nice appeal, especially the one i test drove, it was Black GT Manual edition. I took a lap around the car, admiring the beauty; the design was really neat, the real spoiler was built into the car and seemed like a true part of the body rather an after thought as in most cases.
After admiring it from all corners, i opened the car door, boom it hit, the interiors were so not at par. They pretty much sucked big time. Plastic type dash material, black stereo with a SILVER CD changer (what were they thinking). It had a Rockford Fosgate system, with a boastful power of 600 watts, 9 speakers and a sub-woofer in the trunk; I hate non-Bose audio systems, (apart from Harmon Kardon) as soon as i cranked-it up, the difference was obvious.
Ah well, i wasn't going back without really test driving it. So my same friend sat in the back again and this time she was disappointed. According to her it was really crampy and the roof was almost touching her head. If she sat with a relaxed posture, the roof ended rather quickly and her face was exposed to the rear glass end. Though i must say that is one of the cool design features which makes the car look bigger than it is, but its a killer for someone sitting in the back.
Nevertheless, i turned the ignition on, Nice sound, you could feel its a 263 hp engine roaring back at you. The manual gear shift was easy to adapt just like the RX8; so i took it out for a REAL test drive. The gear shift seemed to be inspired by Mercedes as it also has lift-click shift system for the reverse gear. I took it to a testing area, where roads were clear, pretty much no one in sight for miles, perfect for slam testing. Speeded up to the 6th gear (won't tell you the number
), and then just slammed on the breaks, felt nice! But while i was accelerating, i didn't feel quite safe in the car, not coz of the speed but the way car reacted, it was like the car wasn't built for those speeds. Somehow it wasn't completely stable, it wasn't wobbling or anything but it just didn't feel right.
Overall the ride was nice and smooth, but no comparison to RX8 on that. But then again, Eclipse has some positives. Better value for money, better fuel economy, and overall i liked the exterior looks somewhat better than the RX8. Hmm, i guess that's it. Nothing special about it.
3 Good Things:
- Manual shift, was easy to adapt
- More hp than comparable models at this price.
- Dunno for the 3rd, i guess the look in itself, its new and not many have it
3 Not so good ones:
- Very poor interior design, esp. the dash. Not so good audio system at this price. Non-bose just doesn't cut it.
- The door handles were egg shaped and opened towards the side, didn't make sense and quality felt cheap
- Steering mounted controls were on the back of the wheel, ... wwhhhy?!!!
-
Starting Price: ~23,700 (manual)
-
When appropriately equipped: ~29,000 (Premium Package, Aero Package, Accessory Package)
-
Dealership ready to make a deal: Not, really. Well atleast not when i tried for it. It's a new car, with a new design and only limited dealerships have it. Also, the guy was trying to sell me a pre-owned Audi
After trying the RX8, this one just didn't come close to what i had experienced earlier. Frankly the only good thing was its appearance. If you are thinking about buying this one, I would recommend you to go for the base GT edition base only, the options just add more cost and frankly were not worth it.
My Ratings:
- Driving Experience: 7.5/10
- Value for money: 6.5/10
Ford Mustang GT '05
Ok, i would be really frank, i wasn't interested in a Mustang. It's just too generic, almost everyone has it. And also a really close friend of mine would never speak to me if i bought one. So i was very sure i will not go for this, nonetheless i was going to test drive it.
That was before i saw the newly designed Mustang! Man, it looked nice, and this one didn't look generic by any standards. Even though I am not a big fan of retro designs, this one had an attitude, 'a thing' about it. This car boosts a 300 hp, V8 engine; not for those who put Fuel Economy before the power.
This one has to be the best Mustang yet, read any specifications review and you will say that too. The more i drove the car, the further i was inclined to forget everything else and go for this American Beauty. After a nice drive around the dealership, i was convinced and thought of making a deal for it but i needed a specific set of accessories. Before i could say anything, the dealership guy told me, there is no way he can find any 06. Ok let me say this again, not the one i was looking, just any! What the #$#%? Apparently, this Mustang has completely sold out.
Again another non-Bose Audio system failed to impress me. My loyal friend didn't accompany me for this test drive, so i do not have any of her comments on the rear seats but they seemed fine from where i was.
3 Good Things:
- New retro design
- Awesome Power for the price and quality handling
- MyColor feature, allows you to set the color of the dash with in-lighting based on your mood
3 Not so good ones:
- Sold out
can't find your customized version anywhere
- Little heavy on the drive for a coupe
- Cruise controls is missing some basic options
-
Starting Price: ~27,700 (There are no on-going discounts on this Ford)
-
When appropriately equipped: ~30,000 (Interior Upgrade Package, Color Accent Package,
Shaker Audio 1000, 18" Polished Aluminum Wheels)
-
Dealership ready to make a deal: No way, this is one of the most hottest selling cars. Some say the markup on this is as much as 8,000!!!
Overall, all i have to say is i loved the car and for surely would have considered it, if there was any available!
My Ratings:
- Driving Experience: 8.5/10
- Value for money: 9/10
But lets go onto my pick of all,
Infiniti G35 Coupe '05
I am going to scrutinize this one in detail, coz i simply love it and took the time to check it in and out. Infiniti a luxury brand of Nissan has done very well for itself in the recent years. The G35 comes in a Sedan and a Coupe version, but i think i didn't even bothered to look at the Sedan. So, when i saw a black G35 coupe (that's the color i would go for), i was 90% sold. As usual i took a lap around the car ... absolutely gorgeous. With a rear spoiler which almost seems built in, this car gives a rightful sport look with a right mix of luxury appeal.
I went ahead and opened the driver side door, wohooow, was my reaction. Awesomely done interiors, classic blend of black and metallic color. With loads of controls perfectly balanced over the space. The next thing i noticed was the BOSE Audio
... popped in my test CD (filled with various genres of songs with which i can test any system in world and coz one of these songs will show the weakness, if any). Played Track 1, and i was sold! Clear crisp sound even at very high audio levels. The 6-disc CD Changer is also MP3 compatible, which enables it to stack up a good amount of play time. Option to categorize radio stations and CD's is also another cool feature.
Both front seats are powered and have a 8 way for the driver and 4 way adjustment mode for the passenger. The Steering wheel has powered shift for custom settings. It comes with a vale key, which limits the access to the glove compartment and the trunk. With all standard features, like electronic compass, dual temperature control, etc, etc, its fully loaded in real sense of the phrase.
Now, it was time to start up the engine. The 298 hp engine roared back at me with a very meaty sound. The dealership guy took me to a very long but full of curves stretch and dared me to hit the 6th gear at full blast... It was an AWESOME ride, the car handled like nothing i had driven before, great balance and with the VDC off (will tell you about it), it was just pure bliss.
For rear seating test, had another faithful friend of mine test'em. His response was 50-50, it was good enough for his height (5'10ish) but any taller, you would require a hard-hat or a bottle of aspirin. The rear seats fold down to allow a bigger trunk space, a handy option at times. The trunk also has a release button inside; you never know when you might to use this one.
Another distinguishing feature i noticed was Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC), it is switched On by default and should be used in bad weather conditions but otherwise it can be switched off to provide more power to the engine to allow sharper and speedy turns.
Now everything can't be perfect, so i noticed a few not so good things. The odd thing about VDC feature was its Off switch, it gets reset every time you turn off the engine; this can be really annoying in summer as during that time of the year you don't require this feature to be on. Also, it will flash the Off signal right next your speedometer which i felt was unnecessary. Another one was the CD based MP3 Player, while song plays, it shows only first 10 characters of the ID3 Tag.
I test drove the Manual shift, it seemed kinda hard to get used to as it required precise shift for smooth drive. I have driven stick shifts my whole life, so if its tough for me, i would have to say its tough for most people.
3 Good Things:
- "Looks", with a clear attitude, esp. with 19" inch forged alloy wheels
- Navigation System placement is great and very well thought
- Rear view mirror has a auto-dimming feature which is very useful for driving at nights
3 Not so good ones:
- Sunglass holder is little small for my Oakley's
- At this price tag, i expect an MP3 Player connector
- Again at this price I expected an Intelligent key, which is there in most cars these days, atleast the comparable ones.
-
Starting Price: ~34,000 (manual)
-
When appropriately equipped: ~37,000 (Power sunroof, Premium Package and Aero Package)
-
Dealership ready to make a deal: Hmm, not really. I was looking for black on black with these options and no dealership in tri-state area had it. So i was given a quote pretty much equivalent to the MSRP, which i might add was higher than what i have mentioned above, simply because it had more options than i needed.
But overall this was the best i drove and am very sure this is the one for me. So will I buy this one? hmm dunno yet
but it surely is my favorite of all, especially the value it offers.
My Ratings:
- Driving Experience: 9.5/10
- Value for money: 9.5/10
I didn't get the chance to try the
Chrysler Crossfire. Partly because I didn't wanted to, coz its a 2 seater and i was looking for a 4 seater Coupe. Nevertheless, its a nice looking car and i would love try it out sometime.
Another one which i would looovve to try is the
Aston Martin Vanquish S Coupe, its a tiny bit over the price range i was looking for, around 200 thousand over
It was fun. I miss those days when every evening i used to hit a new dealership; seriously those were the days. Hey, i just remembered a friend of mine is looking to buy a SUV! ... so ...
P.S. All Prices are in USD - MSRP.
US Grand Prix 2005, not the best of the races but then again I have never been to any of the previous ones so whatever ... I enjoyed the experience
I along with a friend drove down from Chicago to Indianapolis, a 200 mile stretch. Near the race track every house had turned their yard into instant profit making parking-lots where prices ranged from $10 to $30 depending on the distance to the track. Next on profit-making genre were the mobile merchandise shops, which had plain black polo shirts for $60 (and people were buying them), Ferrari logo hats for 40 bucks, kids Ferrari jacket for 100 bucks; it was just a big money making show. Ah well, i also bought one hat so whatever
...
Once we were inside the stadium, two things were obvious, 90% of the people seemed to be Ferrari fans; I used "seemed" because they were holding flags, to hats, to Schumi's dolls, more or less i felt people hardly knew much about the teams and they were just following who so ever was on top (atleast earlier seasons), either way the fans were just all out for them. The other were the Indian fans, supporting the first ever F1 Driver from India driving the Jordan-Toyota, Narain Karthikeyan, who came in fourth and took his first points of the season and most likely the last. How did that happen? Well just read any news site about this years US Grand Prix.
The funniest part was when all 20 cars came out and went for a practice lap, everyone cheered as all the cars blasted off together creating tremendous roar, and then simply one by one 14 cars pulled in the Pit lane, leaving the Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi to race. The conclusion of the race was obvious right then and there. Jordan and Minardi's were no match for Ferrari.
But I have to say Schumacher and Barrichello didn't take it easy and raced hard, even at one point Barrichello was forced out of the track by Schumacher when they mis-coordinated the Pit lane exit.
Ofcourse no one was pleased and major booing and cursing was on, the whole time even during the customary podium awarding. There was so much happening outside the track, people writing nasty things on posters and posing for cameramen, booing, cursing, it was much more interesting than the race. I took some great shots including the Pit girls and the crowd, which i complied into a
Video Collage.
It was nice experience, even though including me everyone there felt cheated, but I think I still might go back next year because if it was fun when only 6 cars raced, I wonder how would it be with 20 of them blasting together ...
That's right I am learning the moves to Salsa.
Currently I am doing the Advanced Salsa course, which includes 5 classes for people who know the basic moves. Once done I will be trying out my skills at the Common Grounds (an open dancing floor in Ithaca, with Salsa night every Tuesday) and at the famous Olivias Latin Dance night.
wish me luck!
After a loooong time I finally have some time to blog! That's because I will be graduating (hopefully) this semester from
Cornell University with my Masters in Computer Science.
As I look back, I would say I made some real good friends and had a blast of a time (though the endless all-nighters didn't help
). It was a mixed experience, initially I took some time to settle down to the new education system the GPA format, but once I was all in, it was a great experience (not grades wise
). I would never forget the all-nighters with some great CS people in the group, putting together some weird system for straight 48 - 72 hours before taking any break. I feel mostly I landed in some of best of the group's..., people wise, otherwise completing work during the usual horrid times would have been a pain.
I can never forget the Meng and 5150 Lab's
... I don't know how many days and nights I have spent there. There were times when I went inside, the weather outside was Sunny and but when came out (God knows after how many hours) it was all blizzardy in the air. I am sure none of my batchmates can ever forget the dear old Upson Hall Basement (I hope they change its wall color) and its super geeky inhabitants, who to my estimation do not take a bath more than once a week
.
The adjoining, shining new Duffield Hall, where all our group design plans were meticulously made (later to be completely changed), the good old Rhodes Hall where I never saw more than 10 people per floor
. The closeby Collegetown, with College Town Bagels, Peace, Pizzera, Pita Pit, Subway (our mid night munching spots), Ruloffs, Stellas (getting drunk spots), Bear Necessities (gift stop for all cheap Cornell merchandise) and well TOPS the grocery Store, a real life saver. How can I forget the cool looking Statler Hall (la chicas are hot there) where I took the Wine Tasting course (it was some course), Maplewood community center where I have played endless hours of Pool and Ping Pong (Benni, Biz, Chandra, Venkat, Amer, guyz it was just too much fun), the highland apartment D something (where I always found some great free Indian food by master chef Mr. Chandra, assisted by mundu Shaan
), Pyramid and P&C Mall's (well basically for every need), all night open State Dinner, etc, etc ... Ah, well it was all just too cool.
Also, along the way, I met some great people from different parts of the world and made some really great friends and some not so great. I can't imagine having gone through Cornell without these people, they were just awesome. Thanks you guyz!
Well all great things must come to an end, so will my experience at Cornell on the 29th of May, the commencement day. As I have basically nothing to do this summer, I will blog more about Cornell and about all great things I found and did.
