Army

So last night we left our home to spend the night in Columbia, SC so we could get up bright and early to attend the family day presentation at 9am this morning. We got there early to avoid the traffic, but just as we arrived at the Fort Jackson exit we could see a huge accident on the other side of the freeway. We found the Hilton field where the event started and I was not able to sit on the metal bleachers as they were so cold and I decided to stand. We got there at 8am as it was to begin at 9am. At 8:30 they announced that due to the accident they would start at 9:30 instead. At 9:30 they announced it would start at 10am and that there was a fatality and 6 cars involved in the accident. As the sun rose it did get warm enough to actually sit on the bench finally. After a couple of people spoke to open the festivities, we started clapping as we were prompted to do. There were around 15 colored smoke bombs set off in the woods across from the stands. Then all of the sudden all of the soldiers ran across the field into position on the field in front of the stands. We sat in front of the "B" company which was the platoon our son was a part of. It was pretty emotional for my wife and I so of course we had to cry, even though we could not even figure out which one was our son. We were all dismissed and allowed to go onto the field to find our son. Quite the emotional experience as it had been 10 weeks since he left the house a boy and today we saw a man in front of us!

Some of the things we heard from talking to him are:

• He craved M&Ms, ice cream and Starbucks coffee


• First cup of coffee was really special for him


• Listening to his iPod was the highlight of his day


• He bought a cross to wear


• Toughest thing for him was dealing with people - he hated every one in his platoon and it was mutual for everyone


• Second hardest thing was camping for seven days in cold


• Third hardest thing was crawling in huge field with 1000's of soldiers while live fire was being shot over his head


• Fourth hardest thing was having to go through gas mask tests


• Fifth hardest thing was to throw live grenades


• He appreciates the small things in life a whole lot more now

Some other interesting tidbits of his life over the past couple of months. Out of the 52 total people in his platoon, 12 are women. When he left our house he could not run 100 yards without getting winded and having to stop for breath as he smoked heavily for many years. For his physical training, he was able to run two miles in 13:40, which is totally amazing to me - I am not sure I could run two miles that fast! The longest march they did was 12 miles in 3 hours with 85 pound backpacks. Training constantly changes every time they do boot camp. Now the drill sargents are not allow to hit or touch new recruits and cannot get up into their face except for specific reasons. If you fight you get sent off the base for good. If you disobey orders three times for the same thing you go home. Of the 512 people who started only 460 finished and are graduating tomorrow. Our son is so glad he has completed the boot camp and admitted this evening that he is so much better off for doing so. He also told us he felt strange being among civilians, not marching in a line, and talking about common things.

cricket tournament

Today was the end of the cricket season for me as I play all summer long to get ready for the local annual AID cricket tournament. This year I was on a different team from last year. Two of the same players from last years's team were on this year's team but all of the other were new. I found out this morning that all of them but one were from Gujarat. My Hindi lessons don't do much good in that situation I am afraid. We had fun playing cricket and talking on the side lines in between and during games. We lost pretty bad, but it was not about winning for us. Last year I got involved as my previous team got very serious during play and I definitely did not want to do that again. I bowled the last game today and that was definitely fun as two of their best hitters hit balls that were caught in the field and thus were out of the game. In that same game when I batted I stayed in longer than I normally do and actually go a hold of one ball and hit it over the fence into the field next to ours for a 6. It was good to end on that note as I got to know more Indians that I enjoy being around and having fun playing cricket.

These are photos from the AID cricket tournament. There are a couple of them of our team members:

Diwali

Today was the local Diwali Festival. We have attended this celebration around many times previously. In the past few years our daughter accompanied us, but this year my wife and I went by ourselves as are not cool any more I suppose. At the Diwali last year, our oldest son went with us also as he had just moved into his own house down the road from where they have the festival. What a difference a year makes as that was the beginning of all kinds of trouble for us. This year he is nearly at the end of his Army boot camp and a totally different person from last year, which is a great thing.


For me, this year was the best Diwali ever as we met and talked to several Indian friends the five hours we were there. We went early so we could see the younger kids dance as they are he cutest things ever in their Indian saris. I talked to a co-worker who designed all of the backdrops for the stage and the main logo when we first arrived. I had been wanting to talk to him outside of work for some time. Of course I had to stop by and see the man who we rent all of our Indian videos from as he always recognizes me. It was not that hard in past Diwali ceremonies, but this year there seemed to be many more white faces in the crowd. Next I met the husband of a co-worker who I had met last year at a company Diwali party. As I was talking to him I spotted a next door neighbor of ours when we first moved to this area. I watched where he sat with his wife and without being too rude, quickly went over and started talking to him. We saw him a couple of years ago with his family at another local Indian event but had not seen him since. Right as we were leaving I saw another co-worker who I play cricket with and of course had to stop and talk to him for an extended period of time. For me this is a perfect way to spend an afternoon, talking with Indian friends and getting to know them better. Makes me want to go back to India!

best 3D Flash sites

While I am working on lists, I have to give my top 10 list of 3D graphics sites I have seen:

1. eco da zoo


2. Roxik Max2007


3. Roxik toy


4. Barcinski-JeanJean


5. Fat Man Collective


6. Cheatham Lane


7. Lamberta


8. Cristof Echard


9. Orange 8


10. Mr. Doob depth-of-field

sports day

Yesterday was one of the most athletic days of my life. I played volleyball on my company team during lunch and since we lost the match and I did not do very good, I decided to go for a 3 mile run to "cool" off. When I got home my youngest son wanted to play tennis so we took off for the courts and played for over an hour. On arriving at the tennis court, he noticed the Indian cricket equipment I had in my trunk, so I had to show him how to play after we finished playing tennis. I decided to take off today and not do any exercise as my old body needed a break.

favorite Indian movies

This is the list of my wife and my favorite Indian movies that we have watched over the last couple of years. I still think watching Indian movies are the cheapest and best forms of entertainment on the planet today. We can rent these at the local Indian movie store for $1 each.

Taara Zameen Par
Vivah
Jodhaa Akbar
Bride and Prejudice
Black
Provoked
Eklavya
Guru
Bend it like Beckham
Chak ed India
Dor
Paheli
Veer Zaara
Iqbal
Lagaan
Pinjar
Hum Tumhara Hain Sanam
Swades
Dil se
Pardes
Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam
Fanaa
Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham
Nanhe Jaisalmer
Rab ne bana di Jodi

A really good set of links on Indian movies can be found here: Highest Grossing Bollwood movies

beach

It seems like an odd time of the year to go to the beach since it is almost October, but the water temperature was very pleasant yesterday. The two youngest children went with us to attend their mother's sister's birthday party at their grandmother's which is at the beach. That sounds much more complicated than it really is. The kids and I went to the beach yesterday afternoon as it was a perfect day for such activity. When we reached the crest of the sand dunes and looked at the Atlantic ocean, we saw some very large waves. Of course my youngest son was very excited to see such huge waves as he had never seen waves of this size in person. My daughter was a bit apprehensive at the size of the waves. I stood on the sandy shore watching them for around 15 minutes before they came out of the water and insisted I come in with them. I don't recall the last time I had been in the ocean with waves that were way over my head. I think most of the waves had to be over 8' tall. With the powerful rip currents and undertow we lasted 30 minutes before calling it a day. The fight with the waves was a loosing battle. I tried body surfing a couple of times and that was a huge mistake as the waves were so strong that they just tossed me around flipping me over and over several times. The deciding factor on us leaving, beside the fact that we were tired from the fights with the waves, was that my daughter had a huge wave hit her, flipping her several times and making her sea sick. She says she blacked out and felt pretty sick, so we called it a day. Although on leaving my son said he hoped the waves were still big today as he wanted to go back. When we got back to his grand mother's house, we heard that the huge waves were being caused by a tropical depression in the Atlantic ocean. I was kind of wandering why so much of the beach sand had been eroded as it was the very same place my wife and I had been a month ago and yet the beach looked very narrow with a small cliff going down into the water.