Only in the US

I went with a friend to a pet store for her dog's food. Just when I think there is nothing left to amaze me about the US (it may be a Manhattan thing, but anyway), I see bottles of Vitamin water for dogs. That's not all, there are 2 flavors. I used to think that vitamin water for humans was stupid enough. I walked around the corner and saw that pooches too can now have the benefit of no grain, lo carb, organic foods just like their no-whip-lite-soy-splenda-mocha-frappuchino drinking owners.

My source of amazement and sarcasm may well be because I come from a country where most people (yep, just like you and me, unless you have a computer that woofs out words to your dog- hey, just wait!) have limited access to drinking water and quality of food that is worse than the $17 /lb Evo organic dog food. It may shock some people to know that Indian dogs eat leftovers and stay just as healthy as American dawgs. The Upper East Side of Manhattan also has something called a Doggie Gym where Fido can actually exercise indoors on specially made dog exercise equipment.

A bit of doggie facts before you leave- dogs can't see color like humans can. They are like a red-green colorblind person. Anything that is red, they will only see in a pale shade of yellow and green will be white. They are able to differentiate some deeper blue/ violet shades. Trust me, I am studying vision receptors for my PhD. A dog's eyes can also not see the level of detail that a human eye can. For example, a barcode will be a grey blur. So all the cute pawprints on your doggie's bowl and toys are pretty much useless.

You see, I have a feeling that the above is targeted more for you than your pet. Don't display your dumbness so profoundly as to actually believe that Fluffy actually cares whether his food is organic or if his water tastes of cherries. All he wants is to spend time with you.

mobile blogging

This is blue lasers first attempt at mobile blogging.

Happy 2007

How would you not say it? I'll tell you. Don't say it as a scrapbook entry on Orkut. Or send out a mass email to all the 359 'friends' of yours on Orkut. To me that sounds terribly impersonal, lazy and insincere.

A call or even a slightly personal email is so much better. Even text messaging is a good option. At least you don't have to think where you figure in the 359 list.

I'm hungry

and tired. I should be happy because my experiments are working.
Unfortunately in science, when stuff starts working, you need to work
even harder because you always need to see your work fits into the
bigger picture. Lets see how long this roll lasts.

My boss is doing everything he can to keep me motivated and happy. I
like my boss. Lets see how long this roll lasts.

Knowledge from a previous graduate student

The great thing is to last and get your work done and see and hear and
learn and understand and write when there is something that you know;
and not before; and not too damned much after.

-Ernest Hemingway

Two very funny ads

Two ads that gave me laughing fits.
First one is the Burger King 'Manthem' ad
The second one is an IKEA delivery ad. Check out other IKEA ads on Google- they are very creative and super funny!

Go back to work

Seriously! You should have something better to do than read blogs at this time. I should have something better to do than write a blog. But finally after many years of holding out, I too, have started a blog.

Reasons for not doing it for so long? Because everyone has one and 90% of the blogs I come across are boring. And you really begin to understand what is meant by 'information overload' in your PhD years. So why start a blog now? Not to broadcast my thoughts to the world, not to pass judgements or opinions about every other thing and certainly not to disseminate any information (or lack thereof) learnt at graduate school. Rather, to serve as a personal bookmark in my grad student life. Its pretty easy to get so caught up in work that you forget days and weeks and months. This blog is for my own consumption. I can look back and say- "I was in this frame of mind on that day". Or maybe I just like to see my stuff in print.