A Drive to Detroit

We decided on Thursday that we will make our trip to Detroit to meet Akila, Chandar Niha & Chammu before their move to Pennsylvania (Aki is joining Wharton in July and Chandar is joining Ferrari). Started the drive around 7:30 PM, the highway drive was event less. And as usual Detroit proved to be little tough to follow....We went as far as the road before the meant turn, and started to doubt if we are going in the right direction. We turned back....And woke up Akila and Chandar (hmm...all the curse) and he directed us back to the same spot and we cruised forward. This is better, last September we were roaming around for an hour before we reached their home.

The weekend was fun. We Chatted till 4:30..and ended up in waking Chammu. We decided to sleep then, but Chammu had different plans:) That spoiled Aki's morning walk with her GANG. Got to meet the gang in the party arranged for Aki & Chandar fam (Ofcourse Aki and Dhevi went there an hour late :). Highlight of the party is the gang talks..hmm...it's better left undocumented ;) We played and had food. Niha left us for her friend's bithday party. None wanted to leave the place so we started from there around 6 and went to search for Aki's laptop with starbucks cup in hand. We let the two geeks talk, and started checking out the digital camera I liked.

Sony Style & APPLE stores, Chammu was in her home ground, started playing all Mac games (Makes us wonder what we were or were not doing at that tender age). A good shopping for the guys (Electronics shopping only. Ed and Chand slept peacefully that night).

Really, I don't want to comment about this:



Sunday Morning: 5:30 Akila woke Dhevi "I need to drive in the evening, so I'm not joining you" The usual morning crib ;? Anyway both sisters went for their walk 11 (8 miles?) and more of gang talk in friend's house. After the lunch we went to APPLE again, then to build-a-bear workshop to get new dresses for Niha & Chammu's bears.



Back at home there was a photo session. Then we left Detroit with sad faces, leaving Niha without her usual light and Chammu in tears. Took a break for dinner at Pizzahut and as usual Illinois was welcoming us back with showers (which got heavier as we neared Naperville).

Shiva and Sheeba are home

Today we invited Siva & Sheeba family for lunch. This is the menu...

1) Sambar
2) Rasam
3) Chicken
4) Fish fry
5) Plantaine fry

Then we went to Karthik's relative place in Mt. Prospect to handover the camera so that Karthik can take it to Ravi. While coming back we called Suchi & Palani and got the show timings in AMC Cantera and went to see Cars. It was an awesome movie and we both enjoyed it. Pixar wins again! They seem to make real characters out of toys in every movie. Tomorrow is Monday :( got to WORK!

Metra Menance

Today while coming back from work we had a major train delay. It all started with the innocuous announcement that BNSF trains are delayed by 5 to 10 mins. Then the train started after 20 min delay from chicago union station. Before hindsdale it came to a complete halt. And they didn't give any time frame. Fortunately we had our PSP with us and Dhevi started playing the Burnout Legends for the first time. She is really hooked. Even after going home she continued to play for 1 hour.

Anyway the metra guys left us in the hindsdale station at around 6:20 and asked us to arrange our own transportation. Dhevi was hungry ( as usual? ) and we roamed the Hindsdale city near the railway station for a while. There was a live music event and the train crowd added more effect to the whole scene. Ed called American taxi and they told they have sent ALL the available taxi's towards the station and asked to getinto the first one we see. Given the crowd it is impossible to get one. So we went to a Chineese ( ? Dragon ) place and had our dinner. At 8:15 we came out and got one of the taxi's and came home.

Here's Chicago tribune on the incident.

A Metra train line was shut down this evening after several bags of a white acid powder fell from a freight train along tracks in the western suburbs.

Trains along the BNSF line were halted in both directions after between 6 and 10 40-pound bags of the substance were discovered along the tracks between the Main Street and Belmont Road Stations in Downers Grove around 4:30 p.m., authorities said.

The powder also was found on the tracks at various places between Naperville and Brookfield, Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said. Authorities are not calling the powder suspicious and no injuries were reported.

Pardonnet said it's highly unlikely that service along the train line will continue this evening. She said commuters who are stranded in downtown Chicago this evening should consider taking Union Pacific West line trains to West Chicago.

From there, they should board a shuttle bus that will go to the Illinois Highway 59 BNSF station, located on the Aurora/Naperville border. The I-59 station, where many commuters park their vehicles, is the second-to-last stop on the BNSF line.

A hazardous materials team from The Downers Grove Fire Department and representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency are examining the substance found in Downers Grove, said Doug Kozlowski, a Downers Grove spokesman.

In Clarendon Hills, firefighters found a bag of powdered stearic acid along tracks on Gilbert Avenue about 6 p.m., according to a firefighter from the suburb.

Around 6:30 p.m., a bag of the same substance was found along tracks near the Prairie Avenue crossing in Brookfield, said Brookfield Fire Department Capt. Edward Bermann.

Pardonnet could not confirm whether that was the same substance found on tracks elsewhere.

Inbound Metra trains were stopped as of 8:15 p.m., while outbound trains were operating, Kozlowski said.

The substance is not hazardous and is an ingredient in making candles, said BNSF Railway spokesman Steve Forsberg. "At most it can be an irritant," he said.

BNSF workers were picking up the bags containing the substance tonight, Forsberg said.

The train that the bags fell from originated in Tacoma, Wash. and its destination was Cicero, he said.

"How the container came to be open is under investigation," Forsberg said.

He did not know what the train was hauling.

Be Curly

Saran's baby shower went great and the drive was fun. Here are some photos from the function.

Dhevi is back home after one week stay in Columbus, OH for training.
Ed had few sweet surprises for me,
two new hanging pots in the balcony,

the tennis girl photo and the best couple's photo, and the duckie painting were hung,

the canopy was in its place (after a long wait under the bed)

and a new brown top which i'm wearing today.

The weekend was quiet, spent in rearranging things in the master bedroom. Ed was all about wires. He was trying to clear up the clutter of wires. He set the printer & speakers wirelessly.

Today I went to Aveda salon in the city to learn "How to make your hair curly?" - Apply "be curly" was the solution he had. I came back to office with a wet hair(kinda curly). I need to perfect the art. After three years of wearing the hair straight, now I got the urge to enhance my curls (thanks to Lisa, hair stylist in the Aveda salon Columbus, OH), and I think it will be helpful in the long run (to avoid all the flat iron heat). Got my self a Chai on my way back. Ed had to hurry off because he suddenly started to feel that the World was not a beautiful place.

Decided June 11th 2006 as the official start day for DE*