Pleasant surprise

7th Nov - My birthday

Usually, I'll not take off on my birthday. Today, I felt like staying back at home. Husband was at home too.
After kids went to school, we thought of going out for a movie and lunch. We've decided to go to chutneys, my favorite eat out.. After half way, husband took a turn and said he'll take me to some new place and headed towards Fisherman's Wharf.. I was like - I'm a vegetarian and what would I do there?
He assured that the veg food is also good and the moment we stepped in, I noticed three of my friends from our community..Surprised to see them there.
On the other side of the table, two of my female colleagues were sitting..Shocked to see the combination. While I'm trying to sync in the surprise, 4 more friends joined in
and it took some time for me to realize that DH & dear sis has arranged a surprise party for me...

Tatayya turns 83

When hubby turns forty-one

Sky diving

My skydiving video

I've never thought that I'll ever do sky diving..In our recent trip to US, our sister's family took us to CA.  LA & SFO are on the list..My brother-in-law wanted to go for sky-diving and has invited us too.. I simply said 'yes'..

Ofcourse, due to technical issues, we couldn't do it here. Next day, we accomplished the same in SantaCruz.

Dandiya fever

I’ve been eagerly waiting for the clock to tick nine,

Just like the kids looking forward to their favourite playtime.

No, it is not because I’m going to retire for the day,

Instead, I wanted to go park & have fun & joy.

Wondering what I’m talking about?

Yes, to the park, to meet our teacher Suchitra dhagat !!

Hats off to her patience,

In building up our confidence,

That, we too can dance J

Ek thaali, dho thaali, theen thaali,

Simply “Y” and sleeping “V”,

Dandiya & Garba made simple,

Along with some jokes in between to giggle !!

My steps might not be perfect,

But, I’m enjoying them to the fullest.

Isn’t that awesome?

To meet & greet everyone J

Burning calories,

Alongside making memories.

Suchitra, once again, Thankyou

For this wonderful initiative !!

Presentation

Whenever I had to make a presentation to my director 'or' VP, I start my preparation at least one week before the actual date. This time, I was caught up with so much work at office and hardly had any time to prepare the content. It is scheduled for first hour on Monday and it is already Saturday morning...I had no choice, but to finish off the slides. With lot of difficulty, I managed to complete this by evening, only to realize that I lost the two most important slides, should have been little more cautious while restoring from auto-saved version :(
I had to do them again. I was not completely satisfied with the content. So, I had modified few and added few more slides. In between, there were unexpected guests..Finally gave it a go on Sunday night. Practiced it couple of times.
Not sure why, but this time I was not feeling so confident. I haven't got a chance to get these reviewed with my boss + Kids have holiday, so I had to prepare lunch for them +On the way to office, I noticed typo in a scrabble formation in a slide (Gosh !! this needs some time to correct). I thought, I'll leave it like this and when some one spots, I'll pretend that I've added it intentionally to check the audience attention ;)
Finally, after calming down myself with few long breaths and bottle of water, I started the presentation. Time allotted was 20 mins. I had content to speak for ~12 mins. But, with lot of discussions, Q & A, it got extended to 30 mins. After couple of slides, VP stopped in between and told that I need to give a training on how to do technical presentation. He is so impressed. I mentioned that the credit goes to my boss/director. He says - No, his presentations are not half good as what I did..
Finally, I felt happy with the outcome. You find only pictures and words in my slides. I get bored to see those presentations with long sentences and presenter simply reading them out. According to me, the most important thing is to understand what the audience is expecting and talk about only that and NOT everything what we know. Empathy !!
Also, make it light in between so that the attention is NOT lost.
Be crisp and clear :)

Hangover

Wondering how the past two days flew like seconds,
May be this is the magic in meeting old friends ?

I think, I need to scream,
just to ensure that this is not a dream :)

Cracking jokes on our fitness levels,
during our trek to snowqalmie water falls,
the shared meals @ public market,
Isn't that ultimate ??

waking up till 3:00 in the morning,
listening to each other's journey is amazing !!

laughing at all those old stupid memories,
Aren't these the life's best treasures ?

I already started dreaming about reunioin sequel :)
By looking at the pics we clicked @ space-needle :):)

Thanks to all the wonderful hosts
for all the warm welcome and hospitality.

Grateful to all the cheerful guests,
for taking the pain to travel across the country
Just to make this re-union happen
And I'm eagerly waiting for the next one :)

-Mani
10/June/19