snagabag

The Police!

After being a fan for almost 25 years, I finally saw The Police in concert! My brother Maneesh managed to procure two tickets to the sold out show at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, so I flew up to NYC to spend a weekend with him. If I remember correctly, it was the first time I had asked Maneesh to make tap his connections on my behalf, and am I glad I did! The show was amazing! They were the first band I was a true fan of, but I wasn’t able to see them live back in the 70’s or 80’s before they broke up, so I was very excited to see them live. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the tickets Maneesh snagged were floor seats! It was only the second time I had been on the floor for a concert*. The concert was also the type of show I like, just live music show. That is as opposed to the “theaterical” concerts put on by many performers that includes loads of costume changes, tons of special effects, and of course, lip syncing. It wasn’t just the concert that was great; the entire weekend was a lot of fun. I had a great time hanging out with the other MKG (yes, I’m a MKG too). An example of how convincing Maneesh can be is he actually got me to go shopping! Even worse, I bought a pair of shoes at full retail for a few hundred dollars, and Maneesh found clearance shoes for $25! Talk about role reversal. I also got to visit my little bro’s sweet condo for the first time in a while. It was much more finished than the last time I saw it and it has gone from being a potentially amazing place to being an amazing place. Design, technology, location… wow on all. Speaking of, how sad is it that the item I thought was the coolest in his condo is the equipment rack? Finally, I spent a few hours at MKG Productions, which is always interesting. I’m pretty sure I’ll never get tired of seeing Maneesh at work; for some reason I always get a kick out of it. Maybe it’s that way for most people when they see their syblings doing their thing at work? Especially when “at work” means running a fast growing, very succesful, very interesting company they started from scratch. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. Though I’m thinking next trip I’m definitely coming with Aparna so Maneesh will have someone else to go shopping with!

MKG & MKG

Be sure to check out the photos from my trip to NYC. It’s a mix of Maneesh’s place, the concert, his office, some random shots, and me getting a pedicure. Sorry, that wasn’t a typo. Just click on any of the photos in this post, or click here to see the slideshow.

*The other time was a U2 concert. (thanks Ashish!)

I spent a few hours in LA last month and it ended up being a fantastic day. I spent the day with three great friends going to a movie, going out to eat, and seeing a concert. Not just any concert, but my all time favorite musician, John Wesley Harding! Nidhi, Tanuj, Jay, and I saw “Sunshine” (review coming soon) at a fancy wancy cinema. The theater qualified for the adjective “fancy wancy” by having assigned seating. While great in concept, I prefer the old school method of getting to the theater early. The issue we had is the four of us didn’t pay at the exact time, so there was no guarantee we would get four seats together. After the movie, we went to The Counter for dinner. It was one of those “build your meal on a checklist” (clearly I’m not in marketing) restaurants (a la Which Wich). The food was great, the service was good, and it wasn’t expensive. What else do you want in a restaurant? After dinner we went to McCabe’s for the concert. McCabe’s is a guitar shop and concert venue. It’s only holds a 100 or so people, so it’s an intimate venue. The show itself was great! JWH played for two hours both solo and with a band. I’ve seen him in concert at least 15 times now in at least 5 different cities, and I’ve loved every show!

So yeah, a great day in LA.

I mentioned in my last post I saw “The Brave One” when I was in Atlanta. It’s a pretty good movie, and it even makes you think a little. In the movie, Jodie Foster’s character is victimized and essentially becomes a vigilante. The movie wants you to sympathize with her despite the fact she takes the law into her own hands. Clearly it worked, as at one point the audience clapped in approval of her actions on screen. However, I found myself not really caring for her character. I couldn’t get past the fact I disagree with someone become judge, jury, and executioner. Also, I think the climax of the movie treated the other major character, a detective played by Terence Howard, inconsistently. His character was consistent throughout the movie, then acted in a manner which didn’t really seem plausible to me near the end. Those two things took away from my overall enjoyment of the movie. On the plus side, I thought the acting was exceptional, and I liked seeing a vigilante story treated from a different angle (since most vigilante movies I see are based on comic books!). Definitely worth renting.

Rohan!

I visited the Shrivastavas in Atlanta this weekend for the first time in a while; I think the last time I was in Atlanta was last year! It was great seeing Irma, Manish, Rani, and Rohan. Rani has the biggest smile you can imagine, and Rohan is simply too cute. And he also laughs a lot! Granted, it got a bit hectic at time when all three kids were…well…acting like kids, but for the most part they behaved great. The other big plus of going to Atlanta was getting to see the new house, “Castle de Shrivastava.” It’s still under construction, but it’s clear it’s going to be an amazing house! I’m really looking forward to visting again when the house is complete in a few months. By that I mean, after all of the moving in and unpacking is complete. We did manage a little PNO (Parent’s Night Out) on Saturday when we left the kids with Rani and Rohan’s nanny and went out to dinner and movie. We went to the same restaurant Aparna and I went to last year when we were in Atlanta for our sixth wedding anniversary, Nava. It’s a fantastic restaurant; I highly recommend it. After dinner we saw “The Brave One,” the new Jodie Foster movie (review coming soon). All in all, a great weekend in Atlanta!

Liah & Rani getting a full blast of Elmo

I rode a Segway for the first time yesterday, and it was a lot of fun! We had a little work event that involved touring parts of Austin by riding around on Segways. The company we used was Gliding Revolution, and I highly recommend them. Very friendly and knowledgeable employees. Anyway, after taking a few minutes to get used to, I was a Segway pro! You control it by shifting your body back and forth and left and right. It’s a little weird how effortlessly the Segway responds, but very cool. Zipping around, doing 360-degree turns, going backwards… all fun. Of course, there is a downside. When riding a Segway, I look like an even bigger dork than I usually do.

Pink Is The New Blog is yet another gossip/entertainment blog that has burst onto the scene over the past few years. My brother, Maneesh, first told me about it a couple of years ago I believe. To its credit, it is one of the the most popular blogs in the category. Well, what does Aparna see today while browsing the blog? None other than MKG (& our pal Tina!). I figured it was only a matter of time before MKG make PITNB, and for once I was right!

I shot a gun for the first time yesterday! and a rifle. and a shotgun.

I went to a shooting range with a friend of mine who is an expert when it comes to guns and ammo as he had very graciously offered to show me the ropes. As you might guess, there are a ton of safety precautions, and I managed to stick to most of them! I had a great time at the range. Having never used any kind of firearm before, I was nervous before taking the first shot, and even a bit nervous before taking my first shot with each new weapon, but really enjoyed myself once I got past that. Shooting a handgun was cool just in terms of it being a handgun, shooting the rifle was more fun because of the distance and cool laser scope (hey, I’m still a geek at heart), and shooting the shotgun was the most fun because we were trying to hit a moving target (just skeet, nothing living!).

Click here on either of the photos to view my small album of photos from my trip to the shooting range.

My Friday - Went to work. Came home. Took Liah to the park with six other Indians. Set up a badminton net on a soccer field. Proceeded to play badminton.

This has been a big week for little Liah. Yep, she started school on Tuesday! She’s going to a Montessori school nearby five days a week for a few hours each day. It’s so neat seeing her with her little backpack and lunch sack, and listening to her talk about her day at school. So far at least, she’s telling us she’s having a great time, but that might only be because she doesn’t realize she’ll be doing this for at least the next 20 years!

p.s. - I must mention that it can’t be a coincidence that on Liah’s first day of school ever, she overslept for the first time ever. If we didn’t go wake her up, she would’ve been late for school! She truly is my daughter.

so yeah, about that early adopter cost I was complaining about just yesterday… turns out I wasn’t the only one. Today Steve Jobs announced that everyone who bought an iPhone before the price cut was announced will get a $100 store credit to Apple! Hey, I’m happy. I wasn’t that upset with the price cut because I’ve been so happy with my iPhone the past couple of months. Plus, I’m planning on switching from PC’s to Mac’s at the Goyal household, so the $100 will come in very useful!

$200. Apple made it official today. They announced a 33% price cut on the iPhone 9 weeks after it was released.

Would I have waited 9 weeks had I known I could save $200? Definitely.

Am I glad I didn’t know and bought it on Day 1? Definitely.