I had lunch with a variety of friends from the Office of Policy and Budget today. I really enjoyed seeing them and taking time to sit with them and speak about things happening there (not that I miss it). I also had a chance to mention how much I love my new position at DATCP. It was a great time, and I look forward to seeing them again in the near future.
Category Archives: Family & Friends
Good news from India
I heard from a cousin this morning that my aunt and uncle that live in Madras/Chennai are fine. It turns out that they were in Bombay/Mumbai for a family wedding when the tsunami hit. Unfortunately, about 52,000 people are reported dead right now, and the number continues to increase. Although I have good news from my family, others are not as fortunate. As I did yesterday, I am dedicating today’s blog to those that are lost and to their families and loved ones.
The earthquake and the tsunamis in the Pacific
The earthquake near Indonesia created some monster tsunamis. These tsunamis are hitting the coast of many countries, including India. The death toll in the area is estimated at 24,000 as of this writing. India’s casualties are currently estimated at 6,600. Among the areas hit were Chennai (formerly Madras), where my father grew up. I have an uncle and aunt that live there, but I don’t know what if they are alright. I had the opportunity to see my Uncle Girish and Aunt Taru when I was in India in 2001. I appreciated all that they and their sons Anand and Harsh did for me. So this blog is dedicated to those that died from this natural disaster, to their families, and to those that are wondering right now. May we all find peace in this horrible tragedy.
My dad’s on-line
I just received an e-mail message from my dad. That means he finally managed to find the time to connect to the Internet. I spent about half an hour helping him over the phone learn a little more about how to send a message and to check his e-mail. So far, he’s doing pretty well. I did leave him some instructions, but I forgot to print them for him and he doesn’t have a printer. But it’s pretty cool that he now has the ability to communicate with people in other parts of the world without running up long distance costs or sending a letter.
It seems like every time I update another portion of the new site, I have to return and add something I forgot before. I was sure that the bio portion was completed, but I forgot to rewrite a couple of sections. I have a three-day weekend coming up, though, so I plan on spending a good deal of time migrating more stuff. I’m considering publishing the site without many of the things I wanted to work on so I can start troubleshooting and people can start checking out the new site. I’ll keep thinking about it. In the meantime, I’ll keep plugging away.
My dad’s laptop, my grandmother
My dad purchased a laptop a few months ago and asked me to set it up. I finally found the time to bring it home and have at it. Since he already had some things on there, I had some cleaning to do. Fortunately, he didn’t connect it to the Internet and didn’t have any real problems. I have more work to do, so work on the new site is on hold. I may have to push its release to sometime past October.
My grandmother is not doing well. She currently lives in San Francisco. My parents went there to visit and to provide some moral support. I remember when she first came to the US. My parents sponsored her from the Philippines. I was six when she arrived, and I remember being very eager to meet her. She stayed with us for several years. I was sad when she left for California with my Uncle Greg and Aunt Sylvia (neither were married at the time). I had the chance to see her again several times since, but she has had difficulty in staying healthy in recent years. So, my prayers go out to her and my family. Today’s blog is dedicated to her.
Playing guitar live
I’ve finally added pictures from this past month. During mid-June, my Uncle Dipak and Aunt Kari visited my family for a few days. We had a great time with them, and they had a lot of fun with the kids. We visited the Asian Moon Festival at Milwaukee’s Summerfest park, we went to a Brewers game, and we went shopping. I only have pictures that I took on the site right now, but I’ll add my Aunt’s pictures in the next couple of days.
Last Friday, I was in the Milwaukee area again to play guitar with my good friend Peggy Mueller. She’s a button-box accordion player (Steirische Harmonika). Recently, she injured her shoulder, so she hadn’t played in a while. But many of us were there to offer her support. We had a great time.
I’ve also updated some links on my list. TechTV and G4TV merged last month, so they’ve been slowly migrating everything to one site. The site is now up and has most of the previous TechTV articles out there. If you’re into games, gear, gadgets, and gigabytes, then visit g4techtv.com.
Visit from Uncle Dipak and Aunt Kari
I can’t believe I didn’t mention this sooner! I spent a few days last weekend and this week with family. My uncle and aunt that live in England visited my family for five days, and we all had a great time. Their flight arrived on Friday evening, so we didn’t do much that night. On Saturday, we attended the Asian Moon Festival in Milwaukee. Sunday, we watched the Brewers lose to the Houston Astros, and Uncle and Aunt learned a bit about how baseball is played. Monday, we shopped at Mayfair Mall, Target, and the Home Depot (Uncle was interested in some tools). They left Tuesday to visit my cousin Aditi in Georgia. I think the highlight of their trip is seeing Karen’s children, Isabel, Madeline, and Charlie, and Aditi’s daughter, Savita. It was really great to get together with them again and spend some quality time together (remember that I stayed with them last year when I visited England).
Speaking of which, Savita celebrated her fifth birthday this week (she is exactly one month younger than Isabel). I think the best gift for her is not having to go through treatment, and I’m grateful to hear that she’s doing very well. As I’ve stated before, I hope her situation is resolved and that she never has to face another treatment. Perhaps I will have a chance to visit them next year (this year is pretty much out, considering my situation).
I also want to send my condolences to my friend and softball coach John, who lost his grandmother recently. He called me this morning and informed me that he just returned from Texas. John has been a very good friend since I met him at Bed Bath and Beyond a couple of years ago. My prayers go out to him and his family.
And since I’m on the subject of bad things happening, I also want to mention that my good friends Hansi and Peggy are having some difficult times right now. My prayers go out to them. Peggy recently injured her shoulder, making it difficult to play the Austrian Steirische Harmonika (button-box accordion). But she plans on playing a little, and another friend has asked to show up, support her, and play along (if skilled). In case you don’t feel like looking for her web site on My Links, here it is: Peggy Mueller – http://www.button-box.com (caution: a short tune will start blaring out your speakers when you click on the link; click your browser’s stop button to stop it).
I know you’re probably asking why someone who proclaims to be a huge Metallica fan would listen to German and Austrian folk music. Well, it’s very upbeat, full of life, and awesome when you hear Peggy play. Plus, I grew up on polka (since it’s the official State Dance in Wisconsin now). She currently has two albums out, and they barely capture the strength and heart of her playing. Watching her play live, though, is really a treat. When she plays, you feel the music, and when her husband Hansi gets involved, it becomes extremely fun. On top of that, I’ve performed with her a few times with my Seagull acoustic guitar… in fact, I really impressed them the last time after learning some of her songs and practicing to death. I just wish they’d let me bring my Jackson electric guitar and my Mesa F-50 amplifier. Speaking of which, I better get back to practicing if I’m going to play along with her next week. If you’re interested in learning more, please visit her web site and consider buying her music. Both CDs are really great.
Music interface for PC
Wow, I haven’t written since the beginning of the month! Where do I start?
I purchased an audio-interface for my PC last month so that I could better record my guitar on my PC. I actually tried to plug it directly into my soundcard, but a low-level buzz emitted from my speakers. So, I purchased the M-Audio FireWire 410. Since then, I started working on a piece of music. I have most of it done, but I’m working on a guitar solo to lay over the rhythm guitar.
Thanks to my guitar teacher, I also discovered a new piece of guitar tablature writing software called Power Tab Editor. It’s really great for writing your own guitar music, playing it back, checking your score, and printing a copy. The best part: it’s free! Go to www.power-tab.net to download this software (it only works on Windows 95 and later). I’m actually using this to work on that piece of music I mentioned above.
My family had a bit of a scare recently. My mother had unusually high blood pressure, so she was admitted to the hospital. She had a mild heart attack that was caused by a constricted artery (fortunately, the artery opened itself, which meant no operation). She’s feeling much better and has been on her feet since her release two days after being admitted.
I also have good news regarding my cousin’s daughter. Savita is the same age as my niece Isabel. She was diagnosed with a treatable leukemia a couple of years ago. She was going through chemotherapy for it, and my cousin was happy to announce that she had her last treatment earlier this month. Savita’s spirits have been really high, and I hope that she never has to go through that again. They will continue to monitor the cancer, but the outlook is good.
You can probably tell that I haven’t done much with this site. I also haven’t done much with the new site. I hope to find time later this year to make some significant updates. Of course, if you know me, you know that I won’t make any guarantees. However, I did update some information on My Xbox page.
Work has been keeping me busy as well. We’re starting the biennial budget process, so we’ll be busy for a while. In the meantime, I have the weekend off (including Memorial Day), so I’ll have some time to recharge.
And speaking of Memorial Day, I just want to dedicate today’s blog to all of the soldiers that gave their lives while serving our country (that’s the United States, in case you didn’t know where I live). May their sacrifice remind us that liberty is something we should all cherish and work hard for, and that tyranny and hatred have no place in our hearts.
Meeting a senator
Happy belated Easter! I spent the day with my family. I took some pictures of my nieces and my nephew (don’t worry, they’re coming soon). It was a great time.
I was out shopping when I ran into State Senator John Erpenbach. I introduced myself as one of his constituents and told him that I’m a big fan of his. He really seems like a down-to-earth guy, so he’s got my vote.
Desk one step closer to completion
I’m really excited about the desk being almost complete. I was in Milwaukee again over the weekend finishing the top. It looks great! It’s one heavy desktop, but it’s going to be worth it when I get it home and installed. When I’m finished, I’ll start scanning pictures and working on the write-up.
I’ve added a couple of new sites to My Links list. Their both under Entertainment. The first is metacritic.com, which is a site that collects official reviews of film, video/DVD, music, and games from other sources and tabulates them to provide an average. The second is the official Xbox web site. I don’t know why I didn’t add them before.
Speaking of improvements to my site, I was thinking about moving the Xbox page into My Bio. I’ll probably break out the hobbies page into several different pages for major things like guitar and Xbox. It’s all in the works (in my mind), and probably won’t be available until the site redesign, which I probably won’t work on until later this year. Speaking of which, I’m still interested in collecting ideas, including sample sites and usage.
Finally, my uncle and aunt that live in England have just about finalized their plans to visit the US. I’m really excited about seeing them again. I have a cousin who lives in India that has been working in Canada, but she’s only there for a few more weeks. I do feel bad about not finding the time to visit her. Unfortunately, work has had me very busy, and taking time off has been difficult. And since I’m on the topic of family, Charlie is really doing well. That reminds me, I should finish that scrapbook page, shouldn’t I? As I stated, I should be able to complete a list of web site updates when the desk is in place.
