Some more Pgh Photos

Pgh Left!

A funny quirk about the city I learnt from the locals - Pgh Left. What this means is this: In most cities in the US, when you're standing at a traffic light waiting to turn left, you normally yield to oncoming traffic in the opposite direction. Once the oncoming traffic has eased, you make a left. But in old-style Pittsburgh tradition, when you're trying to take a left and the signal turns green, more often than not, the driver of the car on the opposite side will wave for you to take the left turn first before he starts going straight. In fact this tradition is so common that people take it for granted that you'll let them take a left and just rush in when the signal turns green. The first couple of days I was here, I was pissed that the guy taking a left didn't yield to me, and I had honked my horn in disgust. But now I do understand it :)

Here is a Wiki Entry for this phenomenon: PGH Left.

Pittsburgh!!

I've fallen in love, yet again! This time it is with this beautiful city. There might be people in the US who beleive that Pittsburgh is dead and is in the middle of nowhere, but I've fallen in love with it, dead or alive! And in particular, with the bridges of Allegheny County. Pittsburgh, as you might know, is in the crossroads of western Pennsylvania's hilly terrain, and naturally, there are a number of bridges and tunnels to ease commute. But, the beauty of these bridges lie in two things: First, the fact that many of these were built over a century ago. And second, you don't realize in most cases that you've gotten onto a bridge and off it! The bridge network is so seamlessly built, especially with the smaller bridges in the interior.

Pgh also has a decent sized downtown, not comparable to the skylines of NYC or LA, but good nevertheless. On the left and below are some pictures I took from across the Allegheny river last weekend.

Memories

This brought some very old memories ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8i_YPfenqc&mode=related&search

So did this ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seB1XFRjluo&mode=related&search

iPhone mania

It's amazing how much hype a new gadget on the market can generate. For the last six months, if there has been one thing on every tech-savvy person's lips, it's the iPhone. And finally, today at 6 pm, the wait will be over. From the last 24 hrs, there have been hordes of hungry geeks camped around the flagship Apple store in New York City (image inset). If that's not enough, there are people capitalizing on the iPhone mania that has struck the nation from Silicon Valley to The Village through innovative means. A domain name called www.iphone-usa.com is up for auction on eBay for fifty grand. Real and fake iPhone ad videos are making the rounds on YouTube.

The tons of reviews that have come in this week have all been unanimous on one aspect - that the iPhone, while not the utopia of cellphonedom, has lived up to the hype and expectations quite well. From it's intuitive user interface and rich features to the sleek and ergonomic design, it has Apple's trademark penchant for creativity written all over it. One of the earliest reviews came in Jan 2007. PC Magazine has reserved its comments for now, saying they have to test this 'important phone' further - my feeling is that they're afraid to give a review in the wrong direction ;-) .. It's true that there have been mixed reactions to the iPhone from some corners - some skeptical and some lashing out blanket statements like Apple is Evil! - but the overall response to the phone has been one of a huge welcome.

Amidst all this confusion, I'm just planning to go to the At&T store across the street this evening and check out the phone myself!

The 'i' factor

I've often wondered why there's no phone in the market without all those teeny-weeny butons. Why wouldn't phone manufacturers just put a touch-screen with only soft buttons? Like my GPS Mio Digiwalker 310

I asked her about this the other day, and she replied that it would probably be difficult to use it because you would inadvertently press the wrong places on the screen which could potentially dial the wrong number and so on. Also, on my current phone, I easily text away under the table in meetings without looking at my phone, which I would probably not be able to do with a touch screen!

All said, here is a phone with no buttons, finally. Here's to the iPhone! Looks like it needed an 'i' to figure out that buttonless phones would really work.

The iPhone!

 

Painting an Airbus A320!

I found this video on, where else, YouTube. It is a time lapse imagery of how a humongous Virgin America Airbus A320 is painted. It's a sight to watch!

Painting an Airbus A320!

Monumental Monument

A view of the Washington Memorial from the Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin. This shot was taken on a sunny afternoon during Spring, 2007.

Snow!

It's been snowing since two days. There's at least 6-8 inches outside at the moment. Scared to venture out .. I saw this lady this morning trying to pull her car out of the apartment parking lot. There was so much of snow around that her car was going almost sideways! She almost gave up after a few attempts. Then a few good people came and gave her car a nice big push and onto to the main road! I have a video of what happened. Will post it sometime later. I know you must be thinking .. "What an a** .. Taping the car rather than going and helping the lady out!" .. But then, it's way too cold outside. Not me .. Sorry!

Just spoke with my sis-in-law. She was going to work in her bus as usual this morning on I-95 near NYC and lo ... This car from the next lane skids across, turns halfway around and stops in front of her bus! The guy in the car thankfully didn't die of shock .. he just put his face in his hands and shrieked! The bus was going very slow anyway (10 mph on NJTP!) and stopped in time.

My office has shut down for the day. Working (so-called) from home. It's good to be home on Val-day with wifey dear, tickets to "Music and Lyrics" as a surprise for her in the evening, the white clad lawn outside and this big mug of steaming coffee in hand! Ah Heaven!

New Blogger

Heyy I just upgraded from the Old Blogger to the new version. Yet to explore all its new features. But at first sight, it looks good! Google seems ot have taken care not to screw up any of my template formatting or content. Then, I feel that it's much faster than the previous ones (or is it just my internet connection?). Then the template drag-drops are quite cool. You should check it out ..

Back!

First things first. There's been a reason for my absence from blogger these past few months .. a good one. I had been studying my a** off for my GMAT and MBA admissions. Two months of hardcore prep for the exam and I managed a pretty cool score. Another two months of introspection, soul-searching or call it just plain bull, and I was pretty much set with my essays and references for the apps. Sent in my apps to four schools - Chicago GSB, CMU, Wharton and Columbia. Already been accepted at CMU. Have interviewed at the GSB. And waiting for the adcom folks at Wharton and Columbia to warm up to my essays!

Now isn't that a good excuse for not being active around here?