Blog of Parag

Thanksgiving 2005

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful. We had a full house with 23 friends and family members celebrating the harvest festival. There were the usual suspects from New Jersey and also my parents visiting from India. We had a shortened menu this year. Here is what we made for our turkey-less vegetarian Thanksgiving feast:

Appetizers: Chex mix, Brandied apples with goat cheese, Cheeses (Brie with fig preserves, Manchego, Gouda) and crackers.

Main dishes: Mashed potatoes and gravy, Green bean cassarole, Broccolli and cheesy rice, Pasta salad, Broccolli salad, Cranberry salad, Almond bread (brought by one of the guests).

Desserts: Cheesecake, Jell-O with fruits, Death by Chocolate, Assorted chocolate truffles (custom-made by a friend)

Click below for some pictures of food.

Clockwise from bottom-left: Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Pasta Salad, Broccolli Salad, Cheesy Rice, Green Bean Cassarole, Cranberry Salad



Cheesecake aka calorie bomb



Jell-O with fruits & truffles



Death by chocolate

People in the background

All morning shows on network TV, feature the weather(wo)man standing in front of a group of screaming/waving people to talk about the national weather forecast. What do these people in the background achieve? What makes them decide to go to these studios in NY city, stand outside in rain or snow or cold weather for an hour or two and wave/scream at the camera for a few seconds? I just don't get it.

I know an old lady

Ashwini's preschool has this book, I know an old lady, that she likes very much. So, we bought it for her and here is how it starts off...

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don't know why she swallowed that fly.
Perhaps, she'll die.

I know an old lady who swallowed a spider.
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I don't know why she swallowed that fly.
Perhaps, she'll die.

And, it goes on and on like that. The illustrations are quite funny and have lots of pop-ups and flaps. No wonder Ashwini likes it.

Good Morning... indeed

I usually turn on the TV while getting ready in the morning to check the weather forecast. While the TV was on and I waited for weather, watched these two stories on ABC's Good Morning America. I was just standing there and shaking my head in disbelief.

The first sotry was - To Cry, or Not To Cry: 'Ferberizing' Clarified - about Dr. Ferber, a child sleep specialist. He wrote a book 20 years ago with guidelines for parents to teach their infants sleep on their own. It talks about letting a child cry for longer and longer periods of time before going in to pat or comfort the child. This teaches the children how to become self-reliant. He claimed that this method worked in 7 days. Dr. Ferber was interviewed on the show and he said that his method is one of the things that can be useful but, he didn't claim that it will work with every child and people should decide depending on how kids react.

As a parent, I had read this book and had tried out this method but, soon realised that it was not working, as we couldn't just sit and listen to our daughter cry. So, we chose to do something different. There were a couple of women on the show who were very angry. They had followed the Ferber method and now feel that they may have harmed their children. Why did these people HAVE to just follow what they read in a book? Couldn't they think and decide for themselves as a parent after reading the book and trying it out. Is it too much to expect people to think? Is it so hard?

The second story was: Pregnant 37-Year-Old Charged With Molesting 15-Year-Old Husband. This was really bizzare. This 37 year old woman got involved with her son's friend. The only problem is that this friend was only 15 years old. Even more bizzare twist is that State of Georgia issued a marriage license for them and they got married. There is a loophole in the age requirement for marriage if the girlfriend is pregnant. Now, that woman is being charged for molesting her own husband. The interview of 15 year old's grandmother was worth watching. It was quite hillarious.

At this point, I had had enough of news. Final conclusion: The morning news shows are turning into Oprah and Jerry Springer.

Dilemma about smoking

As a result of the big multi-billion dollar settlement between the tobacco companies and several state governments in US, a lot of this settlement money started trickling down to state universities. This 'puff-money' was used to fund big-price items at various Universities. I know of at least 3 high-field NMR spectrometers (each costing several millions + cost of new facilities to house them) installed in last couple of years. This is just great news for researchers like me who work in this field to have more of these magnets around and get access to them. Also, more 'puff-money' is being generated through increased taxes on cigarettes.

Here is my dilemma... I know smoking is bad for one's health. So, I would encourage my friends and family members to quit smoking. But, at the same time I would like to see people smoking to generate more 'puff-money' that can be used for bio-medical research.

This sounds really bad. There must be a way to make people stop smoking and fund research projects at the same time.

BTW, November 17th is the "Smoke-out" day. Keep your airways clean for at least one day, my smoker friends.

Rockstar for toddlers

Laurie Berkner is often called the rockstar for toddlers. She used to be a teacher and makes great kids' music. We saw her on 'Noggin' TV a few months ago and Ashwini just loves her music. It is very hummable for parents too. Victor Vito is one of her albums that we own. It is highly recommended for kids 2 and above.

Free money

I was surprised to see the participation statistics about 401(k) retirement plans. Less than half of eligible employees participate and less than 10% contribute the maximum allowed ($14,000 for 2005) by the law. Even if you can't contribute the maximum, you should try to put in enough to get the employer's match. If you are not contributing enough to capture all of your employer's matching contribution, you are throwing away free money.

rare or well-done?

Edible panties: How do you like yours? rare or well-done?

via The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns

Is USA not good enough?

Last week, I was called to sign my name on a patent application. That form also asked for the citizenship of the person. The admin who prepared the forms had prefilled that field as 'USA'. I pointed it out to her to make a correction that I am a citizen of India. She jokingly asked if USA wasn't good enough for me to be a citizen. I have spent most of my adult life in US and it has been very happy, but, this conversation started me thinking about all the things that I think are wrong about the United States. I don't want to make that list here, but, write about just one incident mentioned by a co-worker.

This man is a very successful scientist and his wife is a tenured professor at Michigan State University and runs a big lab with big research grants. They take an active interest in their children's education and volunteered to participate in 'Career Day' at their daughter's school. The school teacher organising the 'Career Day' called them a few days before the event to inform them that they need not go for it. No children had signed up to talk with the 'Scientists'. They were completely taken by surprise. Their own daughter went to meet with the 'hairdresser' to explore it as a future career option.

Students doing well in science and math are looked down upon and termed geeks and nerds. It is just very uncool to do well in school, especially for girls. This really scares me. What is my daughter going to do when she goes to school?

R.D. Burman music: rehashed

This is a must-listen for the fans of Asha Bhosle and R.D. Burman. I think this is the first ever interview with Asha Bhosle on NPR.

NPR : Kronos Quartet's 'Stolen Heart' with Asha Bhosle

I liked what I heard in this clip. The whole album, You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood should be good, too.