Arushi keeps remembering you. She looks at her photo enlarged and says Ashisha bava tegaddu. If I ask her where is he, she says Ameica hoida. If I again ask her why did he go there, she says kelasha. Then I ask her enta kelasa to which she promptly says click click (photography)!!!!

references.. cross references, sigh. Writing the intro to a thesis is really painful. So many things you started with as 'granted' needs to be referenced and clarified. And then, towards the final moments of my tryst with fMRI .. I find this. Couldnt find the full text version, would have been interesting to read. I am NOT saying this is funny.. "complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at T10" doesn't sound like a slight back pain.
Though am tempted to include it in my thesis ...

..increasingly fMRI has found new uses in unraveling one of the greatest mysteries known to man. Beyond the basic motor and cognitive stimulus used to map the brain function, Komisaruk et al [1] have devised ingenious experiments to demonstrate.."




Functional MRI of the brain during orgasm in women.
Komisaruk BR, Whipple B.

Department of Psychology, Rutgers,The State University of New Jersey, Newark 07102, USA. brk@psychology.rutgers.edu

Women diagnosed with complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at T10 or higher report sensations generated by vaginal-cervical mechanical self-stimulation (CSS). In this paper we review brain responses to sexual arousal and orgasm in such women, and further hypothesize that the afferent pathway for this unexpected perception is provided by the Vagus nerves, which bypass the spinal cord. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we ascertained that the region of the medulla oblongata to which the Vagus nerves project (the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract or NTS) is activated by CSS. We also used an objective measure, CSS-induced analgesia response to experimentally induced finger pain, to ascertain the functionality of this pathway. During CSS, several women experienced orgasms. Brain regions activated during orgasm included the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, amygdala, accumbens-bed nucleus of the stria terminalis-preoptic area, hippocampus, basal ganglia (especially putamen), cerebellum, and anterior cingulate, insular, parietal and frontal cortices, and lower brainstem (central gray, mesencephalic reticular formation, and NTS). We conclude that the Vagus nerves provide a spinal cord-bypass pathway for vaginal-cervical sensibility and that activation of this pathway can produce analgesia and orgasm.


hmm, ref [1] might be too obvious.. would have to hide it somewhere deep :D
And I SWEAR I was not using the pubmed database for porn :|

Another goodbye :|, but am not too sad or depressed. There is always a bigger fish. This is so true in so many different levels. Losing a bike is actually not such a big deal after all... there are more things I have to face. I have no doubt I'll get myself a CBR next season, or (!) a VFR. But.. some things in life you probably have just one chance to call yours.
And as with everything else, it comes with a prominent expiry date :|

Beside the rides .. the 'omg! am dead!!' moments.. the truly awesome views I saw along the road.. It marked some great moments in my life.

One dream coming true.

A wet scarf.

and a poem.

Been a while. Should have put this up last week..

But all I did last week was stare at the rain. It's got better.. way way better.
And way way worse. For a change, have decided not to mull on things and try making the best of the time I have left.

The week before ..all I wanted was to complete this *@$&*! and get out of here. Now...

ah, not the place. So, as I was saying last time.. we had a camping trip planned for last weekend. After a lot of drama and plans and what not, eight of us left on Sat eaaarly morning to Garibaldi Lake. 

Sharath, Lan, Pooja and I in one, Colin, Xin Yi, Kelly and Vlad in the other car. We took a lot of pics on this one. We even have pics of ppl talking pics! </>p

A long strenuous hike along nice wide trails. Not much to see until we got to the viewpoint about 6.5 kms out. 'The barrier'... a sheer wall of rock. Great views of the tantalus mountain ranges too.. (panorama below)

The three main camera's of the trip :), Xin Yi, Colin and I. Sharath and Kelly snapped a lot too. Yet to get hold of pics from Kelly's cam.

Unlike previous trips, this one has a lot of pics of me :D, courtesy of my friends. They like taking candid pics too, cool.. I hate posing.

Showing Xin Yi the best picture captured by me yet ;) I bullied her throughout the trip refusing to give the pic to her :)).

The first view of the lake. The first wow noticing the color. We did not stay for long since we had to hurry up to get a campsite. We heard that it was tough to get one since this was a very popular hike, main reason why we left at 5.30 am. We found a site.. well, the best that we could. Actually had to hack away thick ice to make enough space for the three tents.

A group pic on auto from my cam. From left: Colin, Kelly, Vlad, Xin Yi, Ashish, Lan, Pooja and Sharath.

The black tusk mountain was just visible from the lake. We later saw a rescue chopper hovering around there. Colin told us the next day that one from a party of ppl we met on the way a couple of hours before (one was from our lab) had fallen down 30feet and the chopper was for him! Cant imagine such efficiency or resources back home :-<.

Got a few nice panoramas of the lake, mountains and the glacier. Tried something with the one below ..Its the same hiker  :)

Colin, Xin Yi and I went for a walk later in the evening towards the bridge at the drain end of the lake..We couldnt spend much time there initially since we were hurrying to get a campsite. Apparently .. the others lazed there for quite some time :/. </a>Xin Yi got a picture of me taking a picture :).

Tried taking a pano of the lake to get the colors. The shoe was intentional :P

End of day 1 was wet :(. It rained a bit in the night..and most of us were too cold and uncomfortable to sleep. I wasnt one of them :D. Though I did feel a bit cold in the morning...and didnt get out even after having woken up.

Had to pay the price :(, The lake was really still in the morning hours and we all missed one of the best moments of the trek :((. Thankfully, Xin Yi got some awesome pics for us to feel J about later ;).

A good trip with nice ppl :)

Sunday was kayaking. Colin and I had been planning this for a while now.. Since we had already covered Granville Island, Deep Cove and I had been to Jericho, we decided to head out to Bowen Island. I didnt take my cam, so all pics are from friends.

Got there a bit later than planned since stupidly the bus reached a minute after the ferry left. Had some grub and walked around the horseshow bay area waiting for the next one.

The ferry ride was short .. (compared to the previous time I was here, to Landale (Sechelt ride).). And we reached there before the time we booked the kayaks. So walked around a bit more in Bowen Island.

Thats Amy and Colin on the double. The fastest of the lot.

Anoop in the beginners single :D

 

Me, in my sleek single :D.

Lan and Sharath on the other double.

We noticed a seal bob up .. Colin was quick to get a shot.

Though the lady at the centre warned us of the winds and waves, we were a bit adventurous and kayaked all the way till what I think is called 'bower island'. Great views.. again the feeling of being insignificant is overwhelming.

 

 

Google maps puts the island at around 4+ kms. But boy did it feel longer.. Going was easy, since we had a tail wind. We got there in like 1.5 hours or so. But coming back .. groan. It was hell! Paddle paddle paddle and you are still inline with that tree you noticed a few minutes back. Rest a bit ... and you are a few meters behind!! Colin and Amy still managed to make it back in time (~3.5 hrs), the rest of us took a long time. Thank god the lady let us off with a 'you should have listened to me :P' and didn't charge us extra!

Still sore. To compound it, went wall climbing with some friends yesterday. Aaah, just like the first time.. rediscovered those little muscles near the sholder blades. Man.. does it feel sore or what.. :) Toying with the idea of taking a full fledged course and going regularly. Am pretty good at it ..:D and kinda do get a kick out of reaching the top of a difficult climb.
hmm.. my muscles arent going to like the hike this weekend. Going to be realy sore on Monday :D  

---

Life keeps teaching me the same lessons over and over again..
and I keep forgetting :-< .

Ride alone. (metaphoricall)

Been doing a lot of stuff as a group this summer, I DON'T LIKE IT. This trip made me realize how much easier, simpler and aah-so-peaceful riding on your own is.

Back to basics. As a final farewell ride, I decided to take up a solo 'Duffy lake loop' (learnt later it was spelled Duffey) last weekend. Since we had already planned a kayaking outing to Bowen on Sunday, I decided to leave on Friday and camp over night somewhere.

Was inspired by this.

 The plan was to bike up along the sea-to-sky to Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet, Cache Creek and camp at Lytton. That should have been ~400kms but for a turn I failed to make .. ending up with a ~500kms first day ride.

Did not stop until after Whistler, so much traffic an construction, almost spoilt the whole mood. Things got a lil better after I passed Whistler. Just some samplers of what was in store..

I love the clouds and the sky on this one. If you notice.. its the same place as above, just a different exposure value. Planning to take some HDR pics next time am out...

Somewhere after Pemberton, I missed a right I had to take. As in life, ended up seeing another beautiful place, an Indian reserve D'Arcy. I just kept going on the road was totally surprised to hit a dead end before a lake! First, took in the spectacular view. Imagine a road that abruptly ends in a lake.. mountains all around. Man, am already running out of superlatives and the best is still to come!

The water couldn't have been more clear, just wish I had a bit more confidence in my swimming ..it was sO inviting. Found a bunch of kids jumping off the dock, who then pointed out that I missed a right turn 'by that Church 50kms back'. 

Back on the road to Lillooet, the road got more and more deserted. I was beginning to really enjoy myself :D. Riding at my own pace.. stopping whenever/wherever I wanted. Nice winding roads..  aaah. At one point the riding was so much fun, I stopped getting off to take pics of places I liked :) You can see the windshield in the pic below (*intentional* :P)

 

At one point, the rapids running right by were even overflowing on to the road. Pretty risky. especially with the tire I had  (realized it later). As I was taking this pic, a bunch of Ducati Monsters zipped by waving wildly. Had no doubts at this point why this was called the bikers heaven, I saw so many of them .. every one without exception had a cheery wavy to every biker they saw. Something like 'isnt this awesome??' look with a childish grin of glee on their face. Anyways, this was a really sedate ride so far, keeping at just about 80kmph. Just for the heck of it, started keeping pace with this group..the roads are quite narrow and margin for error is well .. nonexistent! If the road does extend.. its gravel (my personal nightmare when on the bike) else its just a deeeeep emptiness :). After a couple of Kms zipping like crazy and dragging my peg twice I realized the scenery was too distracting... at that speeds (~120) and on these roads.. my open mouthed gaping at the mountains was surely going to get me in trouble.

So I slowed down and took some more pics :)

Stopped for a long time in this valley. I cant describe how majestic it looked, the pics don't do any justice to it whatsoever :(. Reminded me of a place along the Subramanya route I rode on the pulsar years ago. Pity I didnt know about AutoStitch back then. Same feeling of being at the centre of something humongous (really.. at the end of the superlatives tether).

A bit of plain's after the mountains, cant remember the name of this lake but it was 'blue' something. Spaced out colors! Almost drove into it.. was so eh ..mesmerized ;) To get an idea of the scale.. try finding the bike on the left...

 

 

 

 

The Seaton dam. A hydroelectric power plant I happed to stop at. heh, no choice..I had to stop. Learnt later that this was the same 'lake' that I saw at D'Arcy.  They have a campsite too, seemed like a great place for a halt.. but I still had miles to go :)

As the elevation picked up, the landscape became more an more arid. Bushy small shrubs, green but not really.. giving the whole area a weird outlandish look. By now the road was totally deserted, cell coverage lost miles ago. No fuel pump in site.. just relying on my spare can. Truly .. on my own :D

 

This was the best leg of the ride. Thank god for the beautiful weather..:) Tried to take a panorama of this cloud formation, autostich gave up on it :(

Soon after, hit a few kms of fresh asphalt. Boy, smooooth sailing, its like having desert when you are still hungry :D

 

I don't remember hitting Cache creek, must have taken a by-pass or something. Though I remember feeling the vibration of the cell as it came back into coverage..remembered something a friend told me long time back about feeling 'safe' with a cell... another train of thoughts. When will I forget?

 This was along Cache creek to Lyton, a proper four lane (number 5 I think). No fun really .. just a steady 140kmph. Though the landscape was the most barren ever.. just a few patches of 'farms' (looked like just grass..). Finally reached Jade Spings by around 8. About 10+ hours on the road..surprisingly.. didnt feel tired at all. Was lucky to find the campsite empty, so had my choice. Though I had a good spot. Untill...

This thing screamed by. Followed by another in about 30mins .... and another. Sigh. I was counting on the rapids way below to make for a soothing night sound..but :-<. They have two tracks running on either side of Fraser. So the trains run pretty often (no need to wait for the track to clear)

.

The strain kicked in all of a sudden and I gave up on a camp fire and hit the bag early. A very very weird sleep.. heavy gusty winds almost lifting the tents off (did not think it was necessary to pitch it) trains (with ~100 cargo bogies!) thundering past just a few feet away.. the rapids way below.. and a fainter thundering from returning trains on the other side.. all coupled with some strange dreams. Not scary .. but positively weird.

As  a rule. Something HAD to go wrong. An inspection of the bike showed how grossly I had overestimated the tread on my tires. It was literally 'thread bare'. If you have seen tires closely.. you'll know I was just a few threads away from exposing the tube. A very very cold damper. I was still ~300kms away from home in a pretty remote area. The second thing that hit me was that I was doing 100+ with these tires so far .. :O .. suicidal. Third thing was that I had to change my plans :(.. No route 12 and heading back the way I came...:(( But had to opt for the shorter route through Hope and Chilliwack

A friendly drunk loitering in the campsite said there was a great bike place just about a few Kms out, so drove there. Unfortunately, it being Sat, it was closed.

 Funny sign on the wall though.. A bike place for sure :D.

 Anyways, the tires were Metzler, one of the best out there. Being a bit off my rockers anyways, and with a gut feeling that I was still in the good books of my guardian angel, I hit the road again ..after another 'No Hope in Hope' quip..destination Valley Yamaha, Chilliwack. Another 100 or so kms :|. Would never want to ride under so much pressure again.. every bump, every lil 'thud' and am on tenterhooks.

    But.. that didnt stop me from stopping at Hells gate, a small notch in the fraser river where apparently more water goes over in a minute than at the Niagra. (160 feet deep!). A small gondola ride takes you down to the iron grilled bridge. Very touristy place.. but the rapids looked really menacing down there.

Took a panorama and headed back on to the road.

 

Rest was routine riding. Reached Chilliwack in one piece and  found the Yamaha place. Very very friendly ppl, since he had only the expensive Metz on rack, he called up all the other local shops for a cheaper Bridgestone. Unfortunately, he couldn't find one.. and since I didnt have a choice..ended up paying ~300$'s to get a new tire. "There", I thought, "Now lets do those 140s again".. before the guy reminded me to 'warm' up the tires for at least 100kms :(. So had to ride back home at a pretty sedate pace again.

All in all. If the bike doest get sold (ad placed)..am very tempted to prolong the insurance and do this run again. Prolly head out up further North. Prolly take up the Route 12 that I planned.. but missed this time coz of the tire.

---

Feeling oddly off balance. Must be all the jumping around I have been doing.

Was away at Sechelt (am told its pronounced 'sea-shelt') for the weekend. Puttua mava, Kripa atthe and Vineel came up from seattle on Sat morning.. I didnt have time to clean up the room (nor the inclination :D), so they were greeted by a very very messy place (one messy less, since Sharaths relatives were here recently, and they *made* him clean up). First 'relatives' to visit me :), showed them around the lab ..am sure they were bored, but Vineel was very happy to mess around with my frns stuff in the lab (zeebla! ;).

Drove down to Jericho, unfortunately to the lowest tide ever (later realized why..) and then to house of dosa for a so-so meal. made it well in time for the 6.30 ferry to Lansdale. Lots of light for some good pics.. A semi panoramic shot of the bay taken from the ferry. (yes.. am addicted to panoramas!)

Some neat view along the ride.. mountains.. and what not..

At this point, I was again so pissed with the cam. (hold it..hooold it. No rants now...). really time to get a new camera. Back to the story .. We arrived at Drs Kidoor and Nalini Bhat's place after a bit of adventure despite clear directions from them. Was totally zonked by the place. Man.. the view! Knew it was a beach house, and was expecting to be zonked.. but ..wow!. Even before a proper introduction.. I lost a bit of my manners an ran down to get this shot.

Am sure both of them are used to the reaction from their guests :) After all the proper introductions and putting stuff in my room (as was traditional in my native, they had a towel ready for me :). This I really like, anywhere in my native..even at our place, when we have guests.. we first show them to their room, give them a mundu/lungi and a towel. Change, freshen up and then sit down to talk an eat :)) Since the weather was *ing awesome, we decided to eat out, on their porch. aah .. great food, awesome weather..super views .. aah again ;). Oh, how could I forget.. great conversation! Found out that my grandpa was Kidoor Mava's teacher!! We talked all the way late night ..ample time to ooh-aah at the full moon rise over the waters. Another brilliant view I wont forget in a long time.

Nalini Atthe points out the views from their kitchen area, gage towers from UBC(!), Mt Baker in Washington (right pic), Nanimo in vancouver islands..etc..etc..

Got up at leisure next day and drove around the area, we got the inside picture ;), if I remember right.. they have been here for over 15yrs. Vineel was a bit cranky initially .. prolly on account of it being a new place and not having enough rest. But then .. we met this dog :) ...He had a GREAT time!

Back for lunch.. again ..outside :), and a brief siesta.

I had to play the spoil sport and insist on returning on Sunday evening :(, had a bunch of fresh data from Martin (a Neurosurgeon at the UBC hospital, co founder of our lab) and I had to analyze it soon and pressurize him into writing a journal paper for us :). Did not take anymore pics, pissed with the cam and also wanted time off to smoke a ciggi on the ferry.

All in all, great weekend. Great ppl. Kinda sad I didn't know about them last year, would have been nice to know them.

Back to the grind, wasted yesterday waiting for some more data. Did something today and got something decent. Something something ..:/ Hope its enough for Martin to write up a medical journal paper.. counting on that to add volume to my thesis (which now is going to be manuscript based.. i.e papers stitched together). Though, I think it still needs a couple of weeks effort to write an intro and all that.

sigh ..i hate writing. Why cant they take my word for it?? :P

More plans ahead before I sell my bike on the 19th (groan .. sigh), prolly a solo camping ride on fri-sat around lake duffy, and then kayak around Bowen island on Sunday. Lets see how that pans out..

A good break after that MMBIA rush .. rode out to Seattle over the weekend. Had postponed the plan to synch up with Anoop too, who was attending a Google conference.

Rode out late Friday afternoon, reached deception pass at around 8. Ran out to take some pics, managed some good ones despite the poor light  (no tripod :( ). The above is at lake cranberry, the waters were really still. Would have been better if I had got the moon and its reflection in the frame.. (@&(!_@^% that stupid viewfinder again. Really cant wait for a DSLR.

The campsite. We were lucky there still open that late, managed to get a stack of firewood too!. I really liked the shelter the tree gave to the tent site.. pretty :)

The beach at one end of the park. Light was really bad by then, all pics came out very noisy and grainy. I wonder if I messed up some setting in the cam.. hmm. heh, totally hooked to taking panoramic shots. Autostitch is an awesome piece of code.. it stitched the above really well, despite the difference in the wave patterns between shots.

We took the clinton-mukliteo ferry early next day morning, still a bit cloudy but no real rain. The ferry ride is just about 15mins, but its a nice change in the trip.

Visited my relatives again... so glad to have found someone here I can call 'family'. Lil vineel has grown a lot since I last saw him, his vocab has improved by leaps and bounds.. he'll repeat almost anything you say :)

After a hearty breakfast of dosae-chutney (sigh .. yumm), visited an old friend an headed back. Had wanted to head back early .. but (groan) got caught in the weekend rush. Took me 4hours to clear the last mile to the border!! Had quite a lot to think about .. which I didn't want to do :|

so took some more pictures waiting. heh.. also walked up to a Mexican chap an tried to buy a cigii off him.  Decent chap .. let me have it for free.

That was the weekend. Now, back to work ...

Our new Xeon 3Ghz 8 Core 32Gig monster machines are still not match for the things I throw at it. Things I would have to wait overnight will prolly get done in like 2-3 hours.

Time enough to record some thoughts.

Living a pretty full life recently. Where do I begin from? Ah! MICCAI. That was one of the more competitive conferences that I submitted my work to. Conf is in Brisbane, would have been nice to go. But no ... I think powers that be want me to go to Rio instead :D. Paper got rejected despite two pretty good reviews.. one of the other reviewers found some, well, obvious mistakes :( and that prolly cost me the 'impression' with the main program chairs. Anyways, actually felt good to read the reviews .. this is a pretty high quality conf I guess, seeing from the detailed nature of the comments and the number of reviewers (6!!). Now am updating the contents with the super-duper PCA method I was raving about an putting it in for MMBIA. The s-d-pca approach seems to be holding out, though the math part is something I am still unable to justify strongly. Sigh .. math. I wish I was better .. no .. not the 2+2 variety. Math as in linear algebra, vector calculus, transform analysis .. phew.. Wish I had the brains for it. Was telling myself I would seriously consider a PhD if MICCAI made it.. good. I dont think am up for it. Need to be more passionate.

But ..  If I did. No drastic change to face .. comfortable life. Comfortable is an understatement. Amazing facilities at the lab.. an awesome desktop with two monitors, a 24' gaming machine by my side, a 70' plasma with a comfortable leather couch.. all pretty much to myself :D. What more would a geek ask for in a lab?? Maybe a ~200,000$ 8 node Linux cluster with 64 cores .. well now I have that too! :)) Funding is pretty much guaranteed.. Research topic sounds interesting too ..(would prolly have been DTI). am the lab admin..every geek's ambition.. And Vancouver is definitely the best place to live anywhere.. no second thoughts. Was facing quite a lot of pressure to ..

It would have been the easy way out. And again .. life continued to serve me the stale coffee as it always does :|

I got my visa confirmation number. That seems like the day things started turning around. Kinda feels weird admitting this ... but I do remember reading a horoscope at the beginning of the year talking about how messed things would be till June and then magically everything would work out ...heh.. wont embarrass myself more with such confessions.

Back to the stale coffee. I wonder if my thoughts are biased towards this line of thought.. but the pattern is so %#*$*ing strong. Am trotting along .. comfortably mindless about life.. just existing. And then, I feel a need, a want. Something which all of a sudden takes on this huge meaning. Something I want so bad, oooh so bad. Every single things begins to revolve around this one stupid lil thing. And then I slog, I slog trudge pludge plod and drag myself towards this.. friends who have observed me in this phase tell me I have an almost maniacal 'focus'. heh. Right. That was prolly a long time ago .. Now I can recognize the pattern pretty early .. and dumb down accordingly :|. Anyways, things then hit a barrier. Usually something beyond my control. Something which within the general concept of reality and the laws of physics, are beyond my scope of influence. Now to all ppl thinking 'nothing is impossible, you own your desity' and all that.. please line up over there. Just beside the sign that says 'gas chamber'. At this point ..I seem to have developed an escape strategy quite nicely. I give up.. I go back to my healthy 'to hell with all, I shall continue to just exist' attitude. Now I really wonder if am giving up.. or I really dont care.. ? hmm.

And then I get my coffee. Perfectly cooled to that just right lukewarm temperature when you dont feel like throwing it .. but dont enjoy it either. And you drink it just coz its there.

Wait a minute... I dont drink coffee. wtf?!? what the hell was I rambling about?? geez.

Grouse Grind

More interesting things. Went to grouse grid the week before last. Xin Yi's frn was in town an she asked me, Colin an Jack if we wanted to go. Talk about snowballing. A big bunch of us finally took up the grind. The hike up itself's pretty tiring without anything much to see.. very crowded too. Views on top were pretty good. Ended up seeing a couple of shows.. one with birds an another by the lumberjack boys.

Almost junked my cam in frustration while trying to take pics of thos beauuitful birds. Man the lag ..sigh. and the shitty viewfinder. Cant wait to get a nice DSLR soon..

Then down on the gondola (just 5$'s!) and walked down to Cleveland dam. Pretty impressive scenes! And then walked to this salmon fishery place.. nothing to see there this time of the year :(. Winded it up with dinner at a Korean place.. by the time some more ppl joined an I guess we were about 16 by then.

But its in Lyons :D That should make up for everything I guess :)).. But then again, I doubt if I should go if my prof decides to bestow the privilege. Its sometime in Aug end.. I wouldn't want to go before my presentation, and am not sure if I can manage to finish things by then .. gawd. More things in balance..

And then the cinnamon flavor on top. I chanced upon this neat idea that fit neatly into the one weak spot in my research. Now it seems line a 'whole', still a bit weak on the math. But am really really satisfied with it. That's a rare feeling.. but irrespective of any more paper acceptance/rejection or whatever.. I feel I have finally done 'something'. hmm.. need to savor it before it goes down. In that brief high .. I decided to go on a camping trip Pooja decided to 'organize'.

After chilliwack got a flood warning, the closest 'sunny' place was Okanagan. So (kinda dumb of us actually) we decided to go to Kamloops. Its about 350kms, one stretch of it coqihalla highway or something is through this amazing mountain range/pass.. about 111kms with no exits/stops/fuel. And heaaavy rain, cross winds .. and on the way back hail too! Wonder how Anoop managed ! .. I was pretty cozy with the wind shield an gear. Though only problem being, the wind shield acts like a airplane wing at high cross winds. NOT something to not be scared about.. esp whilst doing 160kmph trying to overtake a 18 wheeler in rain an windwash an spray. In hindsight..we were total nuts. But I have more lovuu for the bike.. close to 1000kms in 2 days and it was really comfortable!

We decided to go to this BC park place.. forgettable for me.

My tent and the bikes. We got back an setup all the tents and started out to 'make fire' :D. The camp site was really awesome, very very neat. Flowing water just behind the tent. Very clean toilets an shower facility. Good wind shelter.. just great.

The fire finally caught. And I was glad to have my tools with me .. marshmallows on the fire on a screwdriver.. yum!

Us boys stayed with the fire long after the others slept... After the flames went down, I dragged my tent closer hoping for warmth. No such luck. MMMan was it cold! The howling wind added to the psychological effect..though the trees and the valley protected the tent enough.

Next day was better :) Woke up pretty early. Damn are those birds noisy!! such a racket .. kinda pleasant actually. Took my first panorama shot of the valley...(Autostich is just great! and its from UBC CS too!)

Thanks to Anoops insistence, we hiked up all the way up Tower trail .. best views I have seen in a long longtime...

Got this nice cap at full zoom. Reminds of those Disney fairytale castles :)

There, that was the story so far. Oh wait.. missed the part about the money. I had initially volunteered for the lab admin post..just coz I hate not having root access to my machine. Well, during the time so far I apparently contributed a lot to the lab, so my prof decided to pay me. ooo $$'s  :)  more than enough to get meself a great laptop. Oh, thats another story.. last month I got this thing into my head that I would write things (paper/thesis) faster if I had a laptop .. so got myself this IBM one. Installed Linux, got everything to work (surprise!).. and then realized I was not a laptop person. Two 19'' have spoilt me for life.. so I sold it the next day :|. But I guess it would be good to have one since am gonna travel an move..

aah .. no more enthu to ramble. I seem to be enjoying writing here less an less...Just a crass mind dump once a while.