a byte of me

Okay... its been long since I've blogged, but felt like I may post a few things today -

Work: Its coming along well. Kind of putting in 12-13 hour days around this time. Having fun while working hard.


I haven't traveled much out of town yet (other than training) considering this is a consulting job - which is good and bad. Bad because I'm not getting to see new places and do the traveling bit while I'm single, rack up miles etc. Good because its given me time to slowly get settled in Seattle, get to know new people, make new friends, get involved with an organization, make new contacts and so on.


Life: Have been going out to Seattle last few weekends. The last time I went, I remembered to take my camera with me. It was an interesting evening. I did some shopping on 5th Ave shopping district. Mostly over-priced, then marked-down some, clothes for work. Also walked towards the Pike Place Market and although the action there is mostly in the morning, it was interesting. It got pretty late, and as I was going back to my car, I ran into some homeless people and some drug dealers wanting to sell me drugs. One tried to ask where he can get drugs in India - I told him "Not sure" and made it out of there as fast as I could.


Otherwise, life is kind of hectic, managing so many things - grocery, cooking, cleaning, ironing, staying in touch with friends and family during weeknights and weekends and work 12-13 hours a day during weekdays - all on my own. My room too often turns into a mess. Heres a picture of my desk which virtually looks like that all the time. It gets cleaned every week and takes about one day, thats it, to get back to this shape. On the screen is playing The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC every nights at 10pm PT. Watch it if you can, its fun.


New People: I've heard of the phenomenon called "Seattle chill" from quite a few people so far - the attitude locals can have towards new-comers, strangers. I kind of have experienced it, kind of not. I havent because I truly havent met any strangers yet! Other than the drug dealers and the homeless, ofcourse. The people I've met who I've known somehow or through someone have been truly awesome.

I met Sashi of Zonkmimi today morning for coffee and discussed a variety of things. I found out that he built a boat for himself out of fiberglass and that kind of excited me. I am motivated to explore this hobby, maybe build a model or so of some of my car designs... Seems like the dream of KMCL - Kumar Motors Company Ltd - when I was in 8th grade might come alive again. I'm going to look into this more as a potential long-term hobby.

I also have become good friends with Will, a colleague from work, who sort of shares the same passion for entrepreneurship, kind of go out there and do it attitude. We've hung out a couple of times and have had fun. Other colleagues from work are fun too. Most everyone is very warm and involving. Everyone mostly remembers I'm vegetarian when we all go out and thats kind of nice.

People in Seattle that are from the same Kutchhi community that I hail from have been great too. They've called me for dinner get-togethers a few times. I enjoy these a bunch! I feel like I relate to them. Also yesterday night, I went to Garba and Dandiya last night organized by the Seattle Gujarati group. It was a ton of fun.


Involvement: I've been involved with TiE recently, which is a Seattle-based chapter of the larger TiE that started up in Silicon Valley some years back with a focus on South Asian entrepreneurs and professionals. I'm involved in the PR capacity. We have the Funding Forum event coming up soon and if you're interested in covering it or attending or presenting a business plan, let me know.

I've been volunteering at the various company events for community involvement. One weekend we went and raked and cleaned the yard for a local school before schools began. There was a heart walk for the American Heart Association that I participated in. I'm also participating in the Junior Achievement, in which I get to go and teach a 2nd grade classroom for a whole day, teaching them about the "community", outside of home, that we all live in.


Home: I share my home with four other people, all at different stages of their lives. But everyone is nice, professional and independent. And we're beginning to have some good, fun times, interesting conversations and lots of getting to know each others. One is a Mensa smart, another is a coding geek, the third is very knowledgeable about herbs, healing and alternative medicine and the fourth is into many things like fixing-up houses, condos, real-estate in general as well as coding! Quite a variety. Its a big house and I love the feeling of living here. The best part - kitchen with a glass ceiling which lets the daylight in and makes it look bright and happy (you have to remember, this is in Seattle). Oh, and its got a gas stove too, which rocks!

Today evening, I made a red soup from beet, carrot, red cabbage soup (see above). It tasted pretty good. Pretty good? Heck it was awesome. It took my three hours, from the time it was conceptualized, to things boiled, to the time it was prepared, eaten and finally the utensils cleaned. All of us (three of my room mates and I) gathered around the kitchen counter and had it. Now thats called bonding.


I've been cooking at home more often than eating out. Which is good. Some of my experiments have turned out pretty well, others are well, just that - experiments.

Everything else is coming along pretty well. About to call it a night - it was a fun weekend, and I've had a good time in Seattle so far. I'm still trying to get to know more people and make more friends around here, but am happy the way things are going for me right now.