One Step Forward, Two Steps Back!

You think you are going one way, but you're on another track!

Wiser words were not spoken. Or should I say, sung? There used to be this song I heard all the time on the radio in the late nineties, that I can't seem to track down.
Anyway, that's the song for today, I think.

After elaborate nerve testing (which, believe me you, is not pleasant), the doctor announced her verdict: carpel tunnel (mild) + some serious nerve pinching on C6 -- the base of the neck. Possibly because of an accident, she said. The nerve testing person said that the only reason I am not in hollering pain continuously is because of my "size". "If you were, erm, a little larger, then you would have been", he nodded and smiled at my husband for emphasis, "in a whole lot of pain". Then, "stay this way", he added, for good measure! I did not notice the hint at eternity in that last sentence. Only when I spoke to the doctor did I realize that now that I have a slipped disc like situation in the neck, the pain and stiffness could show up periodically for the rest of my life.

On a completely different note, apparently I am now officially allergic to practically everything under the Sun! My allergy profile has expanded to include grass, feathers and dogs. Yes, dogs! No, I am not going to give up mine. It just means that I will have to do laundry more often! Sigh! The doctor said,"just make sure they don't come into your bedroom." I agreed readily. Too quickly, perhaps. She looked up sharply and said, "they don't sleep with you on the bed do they?"

Dang! How did she know?
"Only one of them and only when he misses us a lot",  I tell her. Omitting that he misses us a lot most of the time. Like when we come home late by an hour or so. Or if it rains. Or if we go out to do groceries. Or, if it seems to him, that I am spending more time with the cats than him. Or if I have deadline and I can't take my eyes away from the computer all day. Or... You get the idea....

But what's the one step forward you ask? Ah! Well, that refers to the resolution I had made for summer, that I would work doubly hard at the gym in order to compensate for a really bad Spring semester and make some headway towards my fitness goals. I actually managed to do that in May. And the two steps back? That refers to June and July, when I completely quit working out. Also the fact that I am sentenced to less intense work out for another month at least.

The good news: I can go back to working out in August.

The bad news: I still can't do much with my upper body, since I am still in pain if I bend down and extend my arms. 

The good news: I can still work out my lower body.

The bad news: I am guessing that kick-boxing will have to be shelved. Pity. Because I was really getting to like it a lot.

Oh well. May be I'll just swim instead. Just requires more planning because of the time overhead that a swim demands.

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Zindagi na Milegi Dobara -- Movie Review

It's been a while since I watched a movie, and ages since I watched one in the theatre. I broke that spell last Saturday with Zindagi na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD). It was a perfect movie for a weekend evening and a perfect way to break the theatre-free spell.

ZNMD is a buddy movie with three guys going on a pre-wedding bachelor trip for one of the guys (Kabir, played by Abhay Deol). It is directed by Zoya Akhtar, sister of Farhan Akhtar, who directed the other famous buddy movie, Dil Chahta Hai, which still is one of my all time favourites. Since I really liked Zoya Akhtar's Luck by Chance, I decided to give this a try. Of course, it didn't hurt that Hrithik Roshan was in it too!

The three friends (Kabir, Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) and Imran (Farhan Akhtar)) decide to take a trip to Spain and indulge in three adventure sports picked by the three of them and kept a surprise from the other two. The movie evolves in layers exploring their relationships with each other as well as other key relationships in their lives. The characters ring true as do their interactions with each other and Javed Akhtar's poetry narrated by Farhan Akhtar's character as a voice over in several scenes was a nice touch, I thought -- a good way to include refinement over a mostly comedic, buddy movie. It gave the movie an extra depth without weighing it down too much.

Neither overly understated nor over stated, the acting was just perfect. The comedic timing of all three lead actors was great and there were enough laughs to keep one interested throughout the movie. The only thing that did not ring true was when Hrithik's character does his "sell it!" act in his so called financial institution in the earlier part of the film. Oh and the sky-diving! I don't know of any place that will let novice sky divers go solo on their first flight and there is no way you don't pull the parachute chord for that long! The La Tomatina festival was a little overlong and could have been trimmed and better edited without so that Katrina Kaif's outfit didn't alternate between being dry and clean and then all tomato splattered! But these things are easily forgiven in a movie that's otherwise good.

But, what's with all the male buddy movies these days: Dil Chahta hai, Yuva, Rang de Basanti, 3 Idiots doing so well at the box office? We need some more women centric themes soon, what say? But be that as it may, I think Zoya Akhtar is going to be on my must-watch list of directors from now on.

Overall, I would rate this as a good movie, but not quite among my all time Hindi favorites which includes: Dil Chahta Hai, Masoom, Mr and Mrs. Iyer, etc..

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How to Spend a Saturday Afternoon

Diva says, this is the way to spend a Saturday afternoon. To heck with deadlines and projects and such like. That is for the TaillessTwoLeggeds to worry about.

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Mrs. Weasley's Wand

Ever since I read Harry Potter, I have been wanting Mrs. Weasley's wand. I mean, imagine being able to wave it absently in the direction of the sink and getting all the dishes done or the laundry sorted, done and put back in place, or make DH see my point of view. Erm.. ok, may be not the last one -- there does seem to be a problem with interfering with free will and all that good stuff.

Anyhow, it turns out, I am too much of a muggle to be admitted to Hogwarts. So, no wand for me. But over the years, I have tried to compensate for the lack of magical abilities by developing a sense of parallel processing, a sort of constant running of an optimization algorithm in my head that tries to group compatible tasks together and stick in them in appropriate intervals between other tasks. And, over the years, I have also acquired a very special muggle world magic wand called the pressure washer.

Now, that's one real magic wand, to beat all muggle-world magic wands. You can clean almost anything with that thing and a little water and electricity. Last evening, I was pressure washing the second half of the deck, when it suddenly struck me that the dirty area rug, which would ordinarily need a steam cleaner, could potentially be cleaned by the pressure washer.

Out came the rug and the rest, as they say, is history. I managed to clean:
2 area rugs (wow, the second was actually blue?!)
1 kitchen mat
1 large pet bed that wouldn't fit in the washing machine
2 kitty litter boxes (yes, litter boxes. I told you this is a magic wand)
1/2 a deck.

Now, in my basement I have another queen size comforter that I have still not taken to the laundry service, another pet bed and ... you get the idea. I think Mr. Weasley would really appreciate this device.

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Cherry-Red Chard-Blueberry-Green Smoothie

Here is today's GS.

Ingredients:

Red chard leaves -- 4
Cherries -- about 10 or 11, remove the pit and the stem
Blueberries -- 1 cup
Golden flax seeds -- 1 Tbsp
Nutritional yeast -- 1 Tbsp
Ice cubes -- 3 or 4
some water

Blend all the above in a high power blender.

Sniff Test: smells a bit green
Taste: meh.. have had better.

Moral of the story: Chards need a fragrant fruit to reduce the green smell.

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Red Chard-Blackberry-Pineapple smoothie

I am trying to drink a green smoothie a day for the rest of this month. I started on July 11th. This was the GS for July 12th.
Ingredients:

Red Chard -- 4 leaves
Frozen Blackberries -- 0.5 cup
Frozen pineapples chunks -- 1 to 1.5 cups
Frozen bananas -- about 1/3 of a banana
a little water to get things moving in the blender.

Color: Deep purply-pink -- like a berry slush
Sniff test: nothing obnoxious
Taste: like a berry smoothie. (Good)

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Spicy Chard Cucumber Green Apple Smoothie

Ingredients:

1. Green apple -- 1 peeled, deseeded
2. Red Chard -- 4 leaves (remove tough or fibrous parts)
3. Juice of half a lime
4. Baby cucumber -- 1 peeled
5. Chilli powder (cayenne pepper powder) --- to taste
6. Salt --- to taste
7. 2 ice cubes
8. 1/4 to half a cup water

Blend and drink.
Color: Muddy green (green chard may make it green)
Smell: surprisingly, only of cucumber.
Taste: great!

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White Mountain Weekend

To make up for our brief absence in June, we had to take the dogs out on a dog-centric long weekend. OK, that was just an excuse to get out there in the wilderness and do nothing but hike, cook, eat and chill. Ideally we would have liked an Internet-less, phone-free, camping type weekend, but given the small lead time we had to plan for the weekend, we decided to let civilization intrude somewhat in our nature getaway. We found a "chalet", which was essentially a one story dwelling, with two bedrooms, a single bath and a fully equipped kitchen (microwave, fridge, oven, toaster, cutlery and pots and pans). This chalet came with an attic which had a futon that could sleep one hobbit comfortably. Well, it could probably sleep one human, but anyone over 5'5" would have to anticipate being walloped on the head at least once by a solid wood door frame. But, as any real estate agent would say, it is all in the location, location, location! And White Mountains, NH does not lack in the location department.

Kinsman Falls: Our second hike of the trip was to the Kinsman Falls on the Basin-Cascade trail in the White Mountains. The trail head starts just off of Highway 93 and begins tamely enough with a nice little stream with a bridge over it.

This followed by a teeny little shallow wade pool where the basin was located. Loads of tourists including kids were wallowing in the pool.

Our Dufus and Diva had a mandatory paw wetting in this pool.

The Torso is Shaping Up

Slowly, but surely.

Front view

Decided to go with all 3-oz cans for the spine, topped off with a toilet paper core 

The cardboard discs, should in theory, be able to define the spinal ridges. I decided to simply place a large can at the bottom to take the weight of the structure, instead of trying a get a stake-in-the-ground type anchor mechanism. Whether this will be enough to support the weight of the head and also not fly off in the wind, only time will tell!!

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Halloween 2011 -- The build begins

Finally, finally, finally, I have gotten around to building my props for this years' Halloween. The plan was to make several pumpkins, but as usual, I got side tracked into beginning a skull, from which I again got side tracked to building a torso. I hope I actually stick to the goal of building the skeletal torso!

For inspiration, I go to Scott Stoll's excellent site: http://www.stolloween.com from where I learnt everything I now know about papier mache! 

Basic template of rib-cage from pizza box

Guess where these will go

1 of these

I will be using about 6 or so of these

Hopefully later today I can begin to build the armature.

And just when I thought I had my act together, I realize that my half built skull has gone missing. Now where did that thing go?! You can never trust dark creatures. Never.

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