snagabag

As I sit here at the airport, I was thinking about a conversation I had on a recent AA flight.

I was sitting on an aisle seat, and the flight attendant, after pouring me some water, pointed to the individual sitting in the aisle seat directly in front of me and said, “Are you two related?” I remember glancing at the individual briefly when I was boarding, and while he looked Indian, I knew for a fact we were not related, so I answered back with a smile, “No, I don’t believe so.” The attendant then spoke in that manner in which you are speaking your thoughts out loud, and said, “I was wondering if those two are brothers,” referring to the person in front of me and myself. I gave her a polite laugh and she moved on. A little while later I looked at the guy in front of me again, and other than black hair and brown skin, we looked nothing alike.

Keeping in mind the attendant was very friendly the entire time, and only had the best of intentions, would you be offended? I wasn’t necessarily offended, but I was a bit incredulous. I can’t quite figure out what could have made the flight attendant think the guy in front of me and I were related! Could it really be just because we both had black hair and brown skin? I doubt she would ask two random caucasians who look nothing alike and weren’t sitting together if they were related. At first I thought, “well, maybe she doesn’t get out much,” and then I remembered, she’s a flight attendant! She’s always out!

Well, time to board the plane. I can only guess as to who I might be related to on this flight.

Aparna & I just got back this week from our first ever vacation without Liah. Yep, Liah stayed at our house with her Dada and Dadi. We went to Cancun and had a great time. It was the first time I went on vacation without doing any research beforehand. In addition, it was the first time I went on vacation with no plans to sightsee. We fully intended to relax on this trip, and that is exactly what we did. We stayed at a nice, all-inclusive resort called Riu Palace. Since I’m not drinking much anymore, I couldn’t take full advantage of the all-inclusive experience, but I still managed to have fun. You know you’re old when “fun” means lounging outside and reading a book. Aparna managed to have some fun too, as you can see by her “it’s not the Macarena” dancing below.

I did manage to have one unpleasant experience. I got sunburned! For only the second time in my life! Talk about annoying. My shoulders turned bright red, and that was followed by pain. I’m now at the skin peeling stage. Really, I don’t know how white people deal with getting burned all the time.

Finally, the picture on the left below is of the strange “towel animals” the hotel staff left in the room. We’ve stayed in a lot of hotels, and have never had creatures created from towels left for us before. We were especially weirded out by the face stickers they put on the towels.

I put some photos from the trip online. Just click any of the photos in the entry to view the album. Or click here.

It is with great sadness I report that my buddy Rob and his wife Kelly have moved to Waco. While it is indeed sad when anyone moves to Waco, I’m mostly bummed because they are no longer in Austin. I can only hope this is not the start of a gradual exodus of my close friends from Austin. When we moved here in 2005, pretty much all of my closest friends were already living here. It was a large part of why we moved here, and the past couple of years have certainly been a lot of fun. I sometimes wondered how long everyone would be here, and now I have an answer. It seems likely that many of my pals will end up moving. I just don’t get the feeling that most of my friends are committed to living here long term. However, Aparna & I absolutely love living in Austin and don’t see ourselves ever moving away. Now that I think about, that may very well be the reason most of my pals don’t see themselves here forever.

Even though I am most certainly not Christian, I have still celebrated Easter most of my life. Who can turn down a good easter egg hunt and free candy? Today the tradition continued as Liah took part in her first easter egg hunt (poor girl got raisins instead of candy!). Rohan, his mom, and his mom’s mom came over to take part in the festivities, and the kids (& adults!) had a great time. For the record the “festivities” consisted of a 4-minute easter egg hunt, a brunch buffet, and heated debate. You know, your typical Easter Sunday.

For the first time in a long time, I’ve put some photos up on my Gallery that are actually current! Click any of the photos below to check out the album.

I swear I am not making this up.

I was at San Jose’s airport a couple of days ago and needed to use the restroom somewhat urgently. Of course I was doing my usual multitasking and texting away on my phone at the time. I walked towards where I knew the restrooms were, saw the sign for them, and walked in. Upon entering the empty restroom, it briefly crossed my mind that it was weird there were no urinals in the bathroom, but quickly attributed it to poor restroom design. I used the facilities, washed my hands, and then proceeded to walk out. It was when I was exiting that I came face to face with a female janitor who was preparing to enter the restroom. She looked at me, and without hesitation said matter-of-factly, “You’re in the wrong restroom.”

I in turn replied immediately, “Well, that’s embarrassing,” and looked up to confirm that yes, I had indeed just used a women’s restroom.

Ok, let me say this could have turned out much worse. There was no one in the restroom when I entered, no one entered while I was using the restroom or washing my hands, and it was the janitor and not a passenger who spotted me.

However I must say it is still pretty damn embarrassing. I can’t believe I walked into it, and I can’t believe I justified the “men’s” restroom having no urinals instead of realizing no high volume men’s restroom is without urinals.

I of course realized I had to put my latest episode of ridiculousness on my blog, so I took a photo with my phone to help illustrate my ineptitude.