Driving peeves

What is it with these Boston drivers? Why this extreme resistance to the use of turn signals? How much effort does that take?

Sorry for the rant, but yesterday I saw the most bizarre thing on the road and I just have to share this. I was at a stop light and I see the car ahead of me in the right lane is standing at an angle. Now they are using their car's body language to say they want to get into the left lane, but not using the turn signal. Annoying that it is, it is not so uncommon, particularly here in Boston. This lady goes one step further and rolls down her window and shouts to the car next to her that she wants to get into the left lane ??? What's up with that? I saw that and was simply amazed.

Please please please - use turn signals when you want to change lanes. It's not that hard and it's safer.

Laila 101

You guys know how Laila entered our home last August and completely became the center of our lives. But what I've never shared with you is the way she has taught us so many lessons and probably made us better people. In honor of her upcoming birthday (March 24th), this post will be all about her!

First of all, she has helped me overcome my fear of dogs. Yes, I was afraid of dogs until we got Laila. My husband had always wanted a dog and as a birthday gift to him, I decided to work on that fear and we got Laila. The day we got her, my husband had to leave for school for something important and I was so scared of being all alone at home with her. I kept wondering "What if she attacks and bites me?". Now when I look back, I find the thought so absurd! Soon I got convinced that she loves me and will not hurt me. It was still a bit of a challenge not getting scared of the dogs we met on the road and in the park. Not anymore and I am so thankful to my husband and to Laila for helping me through this process. I was missing out on this beautiful aspect of life.

Another thing Laila has taught me is to love the rain (once again). When I was younger, I used to absolutely love the rain. I would love getting wet in the first rain of the monsoon. I used to love looking out the window when it used to rain. Somewhere along the process of growing up, I lost this love. Now like all grown ups, I would hear about the rain forecast, and cringe and crib that it would be so messy. So, the first time, I took Laila for a walk while it was raining, I was not looking forward to the walk. However, as soon as we got out, and the first few drops of rain fell on her face, her eyes just lit up. For a few seconds she was confused as to what was going on but soon she decided that whatever it was, it was a lot of fun. She was walking with her face constantly towards the sky and just having a great time. It was while walking with her and seeing her enjoy the rain so much that I rediscovered my own love for the rain.

Same goes for snow...well, I never really minded snow much and actually love to see snow falling. But seeing Laila go completely crazy playing in the snow, I think I love snow much more now :)

Overall, I feel she has taught me to appreciate nature so much more. When we go for our first walk in the morning, it is usually very quiet. During the walk, sometimes she would stop if she hears birds chirping and I stop and enjoy those sounds too. Of course, she gets delighted if a squirrel goes by and I enjoy seeing her delighted.

Of course, the parenting lessons that she has taught us are another story altogether...maybe that will be another post :)

Finally, I want to end this post with some fun pictures of our little girl:

Laila goes hiking

Laila ready for work

Laila playing Holi!

I'm alive!

Just a quick note to say that I'm alive and kicking. I know that I've been a slacker for way too long...well not entirely a slacker ( I was traveling and then recovering from a broken arm etc. and then simply having trouble getting back to blogging) . So, today I decided that this is it. I miss blogging way too much and I'm gonna get back to writing here at least once a week (maybe more!). Look forward to some posts over the weekend.

9 years coming

For those of you who know me closely, you know how I love to sing. You can find me humming around the house all the time. I sing when I'm cooking, I sing when I'm cleaning, and of course I sing in the shower. I also sing when I am feeling low, just to cheer myself up!

Now I am not saying that I have best voice under the sun and when I sing, time stops! But I was in the school choir and I can say that I have a decent/bearable voice.

So, now come to the question that what does my hubby think of my singing. Well, simply put, I don't think he thinks about it at all. He smiles when he sees me smiling and singing just to see me so happy, but he has never commented on my singing abilities.

Now two days ago, Laila was lying outside the kitchen while I was cooking and in the middle of my cooking I was just overcome by my desire to tell her how much she meant to me ;) SO I went and sat beside her and started singing to her. I sang this hindi song which says something like "You have touched my heart and now everything looks so lovely". It's a beautiful song with great lyrics. I sang this from start to finish -all verses and Laila sat there smiling at me. Hubby was busy doing something not too far away from us. Imagine my surprise when I stopped singing and he said "Wow, you sing nicely. You should sing more often"

I can't tell you how big of a deal this is. This is something that has never happened in the 9 years or so that I've known my husband, but I'm so glad that it finally did. What I'm even more glad about was that it was no comment made out of politeness or kindness - it was so genuine. I loved it. Thanks sweetheart!!

It's 10PM - Do you know where your dog is?

If someone had asked me that question yesterday, I would have given them a look saying "Are you out of your mind?". After all, you only have to worry about these things for your kids, dogs are much too well behaved for that - Right?

Well, today I don't think I'm so sure. Especially after hearing this story about a dog and her family's struggle with her addiction (yeah, that's right - addiction)

On days like this, I don't miss not having a back yard at all.

Going Pink!

In support of the National Breast Cancer Awareness month, I'm going Pink for October!

Are you up for it?

Good tests => Good Teeth

A bunch of us at work are reading Kent Beck's Test-Driven Development. From today's reading, my biggest takeaway was "To keep your teeth healthy, retroactively test before refactoring"!

Confused? Here's his explanation: "Write the tests you wish you had. If you don't, you will eventually break something while refactoring. Then you'll get bad feelings about refactoring and stop doing it so much. Then your design will deteriorate. You'll be fired. Your dog will leave you (Huh?). You will stop paying attention to your nutrition. Your teeth will go bad. So, to keep your teeth healthy, retroactively test before refactoring."

Hope this will motivate all you software developers to write more tests ;)