Bugsy

PHOTOS: A walking ad

A special thanks to all the wonderful people who commetns on my last post (esp. Bugsy).
Since you all liked the pictures, I thought I would introduce you to a good photographer - friend of mine.
Bugsy and I have known each other for the past four years or so and he still continues to inspire me. He has been running Bugsy Rocker since 2002 .

His website is jam packed with great photography from his adventures, his online journal, digital art, and last but not least Daily Fruit. For the last 1600 days he given his readers daily fruit for the mind and this all comes down to 450 of novel size pages.

here are some examples

01-03-06
don't skip the part where you absorb everything.

12-22-03
winky winky, guess who's gettin' kinky.
your eyes are not beautiful for how they look, your eyes are beautiful becasue of how they see.

10-29-04
i'm just not very kinky when it comes to cereal.

02-28-06
your photography is strong everywhere that mine is weak, for that my friend, i commend you.

Shacka lacka boooom!

Michigan winter photo-log

A few nights ago I couldn't fall asleep so I walked out to the wood lot just north of where I live. The snow had just freshly fallen and there was no wind so the trees looked really beautiful. These are a few of the pictures I took. I hope you like them.

stay warm

PHOTO: The Sparrow meets the paper crane.

This past weekend was the coldest weekend of this winter season. Saturday evening was -8˚F along with some wind chill. After living in this winter wonderland for such a long time we Michiganders come up with some ways to keep warm. Here are a few of my trade secrets.

-This past semester I was introduced to the idea of taking baths. Before that I was a shower man. But there is nothing better than a hot bath and a good book. A bath keeps me warm for atleast the next seven hours.

- A couple of years ago I got a space heater that fits perfectly under my desk. So when I am studying I can just flick on the switch for some instant heat. This is also where origami comes into play, because the goal is to stay in one place.
✓ I went to Micheal's and bought a packet of origami paper so I could make apaper crane but since then I have discovered so many other cool things to fold.

-Lifting weights, running, and biking really hard will also keeps you warmer throughout the day.

-Finally, after a long day of work nothing is better than a nice down comforter, a body pillow and some jersey knit sheets.

i got tagged

PHOTO: I haven't been taking pictures lately, I will get right on that.

Four Jobs I've Had:
1. Pizza Hut: Waiter/shift manager
2. I worked at a book store for a month, mad discount
3. College of Human Med. : Clerk
4. American Red Cross: caseworker

Four Movies I Can Watch Repeatedly:
1. Jimi Hendrix live at the fillmore east 1970 (concert dvd)
2. Rage Against the Machine (live shows)
3. Lost in Translation
4. Valley Girl

Four Places I've Lived:
1. Gilgit, Pakisan (Just south of the Himalayas)
2. Rawalpindi, Pakistan
3. Rochester Hills, MI
4. East Lansing, MI

Four TV Shows I Love:
1. N/A (I killed my TV)
2. N/A (You should...
3. N/A ...kill yours too..
4. N/A .... it feels good)

Four Places I've Vacationed:
1. Himalayas, Pakistan
2. Aspen, Colorado
3. Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia
4. Islamabad, Pakistan (while I was living in the US)

Four of My Favorite Dishes:
1. Bhindi (Okra Paki Style)
2. The Omi Maki II roll at OMI in East Lansing
3. Bell's Samosas
4. Veggie Lasagna

Four Sites I Visit Daily:
1. NY times
2. BBC news
3. angel.msu.edu
4. mail.google.com

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. Saudi Arabia!
2. HOME
3. Pakistan
4. Riding my bike instead of sitting here

BAM

The Hard Lessons

I hate to complain but for the last week I haven't done much more than study, go to Red Cross, and go to the lab. If is nice to know that all I needed for a quick recharge was some good music. I biked to Mac's from Campus, and got rocked the frick out by The Hard Lessons.
I think many students start getting sentimental on there final lap to graduation. This band will always bring back memories of good ole' East Lansing,MI. When I was a sophomore, I was assistant coordinator (along with my friend Alex) of Common Grounds Coffee house in the basment of our Hall. We were low on our funds and we got Augie (the Hard lessons guitarist/vocalist)with his old band to come play a show, and our budget went back up to normal. We packed the venue.
Good Times.
Thank you for the Music.

PS In some news for everyone who has left MSU behind.
Theio's (local diner) now has Wireless internet!

Freak mode

PHOTO: Baby at a restaurant. Thankfully the parents let me take this foto.

I am sorry for not posting lately, I am in FREAK MODE. But after Feb 10th, I will be back in action. I wonder what this kid has on his mind? I am sure he is not worrying about memorizing what nucleoprotein and hemagglutinin do when a cell is infected by orothomyxoviridae (Influenza virus).

detroit funk

Detroit
Originally uploaded by pomgernate.

On my last trip to Detroit I had to step over the "safety line" by the Detroit People Mover ( I like to call it the "DPM"), so that I could take this picture. I Was recently introduced to this new blog about the city of Detroit.

dETROITfUNK
The project was started as a photographic exploration of the City of Detroit in 2000. The presentation of images
and ideas here is strictly opinion. The style of writing is conversational and the commentary is, at times, humor of a
cynical nature.

VIA: Samanen

Cannondale

candle and water
Originally uploaded by pomgernate.

PHOTO: Olso in Detroit

I rented to first season of Dark Angel because through bike forums I found out that in the tv show she rides the same bike as me. As soon as I got home I opened up the DVD box set with six DVDs and started scanning forward on my laptop DVD player. After going through about three of them I realized that I had only watched three or four seconds of actual bike footage, total!! It is amazing that bike nerds out there had identified the model and all the componentry Jessica Alba was using. PS I have decided to start wearing a helmet.

Auto Show

PHOTO: AUDI RS4

I am starting to fall in love with the city of Detroit. This weekend I got to cross off a few things from my "explore Detroit" list. Oslo is a sushi bar that I have been wanting to visit for a long time. Great sushi on top and even better music in the basement. Also, thanks to Mark, we also got a tour of the Detroit News.
Lastly, we took the DPM (detroit people mover) from greek town over to Cobo where the North American International Auto Show is being held. I was surprised to see that everything had been set up in only four days. A day before the Auto show starts the city holds a charity preview and they raise money for children's charities. This year was no exception and they raised ~ $7 million. It has been about two years since I went there last, so I was starting to miss the cars. Last year they had 68 new modles introduced at the show. BAM

Auto Show Favorites:

Audi RS4
Saab 93
Nissan Sentra SER

Try this at home

HOW TO: unlock your car from thousands of miles away

Here is a list of things you will need
2 cell phones
A remote for keyless entry to your car
two people

1. Check if the remote for unlocking your car is in working order
2. Walk away from your car until you are far enough away that you can not unlock your car using a remote
3. Get a friend to stand about a foot away from your car and call the phone
4. After you have them on the line, click the unlock button on your remote and BAM your car will be unlocked via your cell phone!!

In case you are the type that locks their keys in your car often, this saves you from having to call someone to drive you an extra set of keys. Also, someone can call you from anywhere as long as they have a cell phone. I did some searches online and I found that this is an eRumor but I tried this today with my dad and it worked.

VIA: Pa

Mac Daddy

PHOTO: Biking in the hot summer of Pakistan, by Adil.

The first week of class is always interesting. Since childhood I get nervous the day before school starts. Fortunately, I like all my classes and my professors give off good energy. I ran into Kark with a "K" after one of my classes and decided to bike to a coffee shop. Campus is packed with walkers these days because as the weather cools off people choose to lace up the sneakers instead of pedaling to class. Of course, this makes the life of a biker that much more interesting because we get to zzzzip through the slow moving kind.

In other news, Ian and I did pretty much the nerdiest thing today. We read the live text updates for the Macworld San Francisco 2006 seminar. This stuff is red freakin' hot off the press. I guess someone from the Mac world site is at the show and he is sending in exact quotes from Steve Jobs to the site. It is even before the Macworld video gets released. Thanks Ian

Look forward to:
The new MACBOOK! There will be no more powerbooks.
Macbook: 5.6lbs. iSight, Front Row; $1999 1.67 Core Duo; 667 DDR bus, x1600; $2499 1.83GHz.
The feaking iSight is built into the laptop + many many more things! gah! that is sweet. These will be shipping in February.

Hajj

PHOTO: Masjid Al-Nabvi in Medina, Saudi Arabia (2005)

Muslims from all around the world are in Saudi Arabia to make the pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca. This journey is one of the five pillars of islam and is mandatory for every muslim, if they are physically and fiscally able of course. It always amazes me to SEE millions of people in one place for the same purpose. People of every color and from every country come together in harmony to pray. Inshallah some day I hope to be in the same place. BBC news is keeping a very intersting Diary of the Hajj.

salaam (peace)

Stealth commuter

bad boy 2
Originally uploaded by pomgernate.

PHOTO: Cannondale Bad Boy

I would say that I have a new woman in my life, but I can't considering her name would be "Bad Boy". I have wanted to buy a faster bike for the longest time and THIS is the one. Someone on a bike forum described it as a "stealth commuter" quality not BLING. As far as the ride goes, I couldn't have asked for anything better. It is a very stiff and rediculously manuverable. The mix between a mountain bike and a road bike is at a perfectly balanced equillibrium. It feels nice to give my mock fixed gear a break. I am going to slowly replace some of the worn parts on it from 4 years of HARD riding. Other than my old bike, my car is also feeling a little neglected. I hope they don't turn on me.

Check out this article from Slate.com. It made me excited till i got to the very last paragraph.

photo log #1

PHOTO: Chicago's bean: taken at Millennium Park this past weekend.

I was in Chicago this past weekend and instead of some words maybe a photo-log would be a better idea. A post about the Cannondale Bad Boy is coming up soon....

Click on pictures to see a larger version.

PHOTO: chicago woot

PHOTO: Crown Fountain, with some PS work.

PHOTO: Crown fountain and some more PS work.

PHOTO: One way!

P.S. Thanks to Donna and L. Proctor for the accomodatoins!!! much love.

BLOGISTAN

PHOTO: Mark writing

Mark's new blog is up and running and it is definitely worthy of note. He is one of the best writers I know. Mark is so bad (good-bad) that right out of college he is writing for the Detroit News! So bookmark his page and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I will.

Secondly, here is another (apple command - D) worthy blog. She has only been writing for four months or so and she already has people saying "did you read what she wrote today" at cocktail parties in NEW YORK!

This last one is one of my guilty pleasures. I am sure most of you know about it, because we all seem to have voyeuristic cravings here and there.