Life's Next Step...

The big day is today, the day when one loses his 'freedoms' and enters a new arena of life. The day of new excitement, the day of new beginnings. The day which you look back on in happiness and hopefully not in regret. The day when most likely, the rest of your life is made with the person who you know you can love and trust.

Cars and Dogs

Driving around town you at times see the most oddest and funniest things. Other than seeing people eating/drinking food, singing to a song, talking to themselves/on the phone, picking their nose, or going nuts with their fellow passengers, I've noticed dogs in cars.

Yes, dogs in cars are a fun treat to watch, especially when they are running around in the back seat trying to make sense of what they are doing in the automobile and licking the windows. Some of course will sit attentively, watching the rest of the traffic go by, like a human would.

But I must say, I witnessed two incidents in the past month where one dog must've regretted in doing what it did, while one must've been having the time of his life.

The first one happened when I was driving back home from work during rush hour. I was on a busy stretch of the highway, where I noticed a beige colored car in front of me, with a poodle walking on the back window ledge behind the passenger seats. I was thinking, why is the owner not yelling at the dog to get down? It seemed she was merrily driving in high speed down the freeway, talking on the phone. Just then, there was a sudden slow down in traffic. And the old lady driving with her poodle
prancing around on the rear window ledge, suddenly hit the breaks. The next thing that happened was something that could be on America's Funniest Home Videos, yet it was mean to laugh at. The dog, due to the force of the sudden breaking, flew off of the back ledge and hit the back of the headrest of the front passenger seat. It then proceeded to fall below into the rear passenger foot rest area. I was shocked to see
what had just happened. I could just see it in slo-mo like a highlight reel on TV or something (and I still can). I wanted to ask the lady if the dog was all right, and I'm sure other drivers around us must've noticed it too, but the traffic started to move again in a medium pace. And sad as it might sound, the lady seemed to have
not noticed the dog's fall. I'm not sure what happened to the dog, but if it was all right, it must've been shaken up.

The other incident was somewhat surreal. What I saw was so peculiar, that I wondered if us humans and animals do have similar tendencies that cross-over into things that are unique.

Let me explain:

I'm not sure if some of you tend to do this, but some of my friends and I, whenever driving down the road and travelling at a reasonable amount of speed with the windows open, put our left hand out and catch the drift of the wind, moving the hand in a 'wave' type fashion. In essence, you feel the air hitting your hand, and then as you move your hand down in an 'aerodynamic' position, you can feel the air going over it.

Well a few days back, I saw a dog doing the same thing!!! It was sitting on the lap of the driver, sticking its head out from the window, as dogs usually do. As the car would start moving, the dog would put out its left paw, and as some of us humans do, was 'catching the air', bobbing it up and down. And as the car would come to a stop at the signal, the dog would take back its paw. Again, as the car would start again travelling with some speed, the paw would go back up. My mom was with me, and showed it to her. She was even amazed. Then she started her typical Indian story of somebody most likely being re-incarnated into a dog, hence the human characteristics.

I really don't know what to say on that, but yes oddly enough, like a human, the dog was really enjoying the drive. I myself wish I had taken a video of it with my camera phone. But nonetheless, what I saw does show how we beings try to adapt and enjoy our surroundings, perhaps curiously in a similar fashion.

Just To Be Smarter Than You.....

Anything, anything to make you better, and smarter than your friends, co-workers, and relatives. Sure, a lot of things like memory exercises, meditation, omega-3 fatty acids, or even just being born smart would be good. But how about drugs that
made you smarter?

Yes, there are drugs that you can get to make you smarter and more attentive towards your studies and work. And no I'm not making this up, it's true. They are called 'cognition enhancers'. These drugs were made to stop making people from sleeping (who suffer from a sleeping disease), but in effect it makes one more aware of their surroundings and adding power to their memory cells.

And now there are college students and busy work professionals who are using these drugs for obvious gains. Hmmm....cheating I say! It has now become a cause for concern in some governments, and a crackdown might begin before the 'memory pill' revolution begins.

So if you notice your colleague at work or some fellow student doing something extraordinary, and it's not what you would usually expect from them (cause they aren't that smart), you might want to ask if you could borrow their 'memory enhancer' pills.

To Travel Like a King

Being busy with work for the past week, and then falling sick for the past few days has kept me away from posting on my blog. Since I'm feeling better, and working from home today, I guess I finally have some time to do some writing.

Well yesterday one of my best friends called on his way to India for a 2 week trip. Since he lives in Cali, his best way to get to India is taking a long sorry ass trip over the Pacific which takes about 13 hours or so to complete. And not only after that, you have about 8-10 more hours of flight to get to India, if the layover (which is usually in Singapore, Hong Kong, or Bangkok) isn't long enough. So all in all you might have a trip that equates to or exceeds 24 hours in total (yuck!).

In the idea of a long trip, you surely would hope to have a bit of luxury. And my friend longed for such (and certainly I would too). We then started talking about our experiences going on first class in the past. For his first out-of-town interview, the company flew him out on first class. I remember how jealous me and our other friends were with him. Lucky dog!

Well I remember the first time when I flew on first class (pre-9/11), a flight from Cincy to NJ. Back then everything for passengers came very easily. I had amassed frequent flier mileage which I could convert into points for a free upgrade. Like nowadays, airlines weren't crying foul, and flying was fun back then.

So I got onto the flight, not knowing what to expect, other than the comfy seats. As I entered, a flight attendant approached me and led me to my seat, taking my coat. She then asked if I would like to have something to drink, and by drink she meant alcohol. I asked her about the wine selection. The options were Chardonnay or Merlot. I went with the white wine. As I was being handed the wine, I realized that the glass size was LARGE, not something I expected. So I felt that for the 2 hour flight, it should be good enough.

Then just before taking off, the flight attendants went around asking each passenger if they would be interested in a 'light snack'. Of course my answer was in the affirmative.

Once we got onto cruising altitude, the 'light snack' came into being served. The snack was anything but and nor was it light. It was a HUGE bowl of Cobb Salad. I was in awe, and was thinking to ask, "Were you guys joking when you said light snack?" And unlike your typical crappy airliner food, it was delicious.

My surprise continued as the attendant asked me if I wanted more of the 'light snack'. I was about to say yes, but realized that the 'snack' would disturb my 'meal' plans with my cousin that night. Then she returned to ask if I wanted more wine. I was shocked to see my goblet empty. I hadn't realized that I guzzled it down. So I thought, free drink, why not more? At the end, I have to admit, I had a buzz.

We were then given some warm scented towels to get refreshed, and some gift pack, which I recall leaving on the plane.

And as I got off the plane in Newark, along with the other first class passengers, I noticed something quite peculiar. There was this distinct difference of look on the faces of the people coming out of coach class versus the ones from first class (which kind of reminded me of the Seinfeld episode, "The Airport"). I kind of felt guilty about my short pleasure trip. But it brought to light the humongous difference between both classes, and the reason for the ridiculous price difference. The treatment was worth it (without me paying).

Post 9/11 I've had the chance to travel via first class a couple of times, but from what I have noticed things have been pared down, and the service a little less. Some people even say it may not be worth paying for first class nowadays due to the cutbacks the airlines have made. Nor do I intend to pay such crazy fees for short domestic flights.

Whatever the case, a long ass trip like my friend's, does warrant some luxury indeed.