photo: watermelon juice

I love watermelon juice, and I love taking photos of it too!

Here's a shot from some time back, when I had lots of time on my hands of my glass of watermelon juice, before I glugged it down.I love the shadow patterns made by the glass and the beautiful color of the juice. And, yes the little bubbles too!

What are you listening to these days?

Ever since we managed to get the batteries of our speaker's remote, we've been enjoying great music. Having a good collection of music is one of life's pleasures and we really like to set the tone with music, sometimes loud and peppy and at others mellow and soft. Having a good set of speakers such as these altec lansing speakers is essential to create a great sound. There are other factors as well, such as having enough soft furnishings so that the music is absorbed and does not bounce off empty walls and floors. These days, we just can get enough of Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo.

marketing methods

Marketing products and services is not an easy job anymore. At one time, selecting marketing as your career goal was a popular choice, but these days, it's a tough job and only the ones who are really good at it will get the results they want. The tactics have changed and now there is a greater emphasis on using tactics such as guerilla marketing giveaways which have both the impact of newness and winning something for the viewer. While you would assume they would work well only with a certain set of items, this is a popular tactic even with high end brands, where the clientele is at the cutting edge of seeing and hearing new things all the time. Making an impact on such a customer base is not easy, since it must be new, it must be unique and it must create a buzz, and that's exactly what these campaigns do.

Blogger interface will soon have a new look

Have you been reading about all the changes that Blogger will be making? I just read their post on the format that Blogger will soon be taking and it looks very exciting. The new post page looks much nicer and the Dashboard page has a lot of stuff in it, but from the little thumbnail I can't see if one can do directly to comments and stats from the Dashboard, as one can do now. I also like that the total number of posts are written next to the blog name, in the current dashboard, reminds me of how long I've been blogging when I see just how many posts I've written so far. Here's some more information on Blogger Buzz on what's coming.

do you pamper yourself anymore?

When it comes to looking after ourselves, mothers are often the worst offenders. Earlier I never used to understand how things like this happen, but ever since I've become a mother, I completely understand how it happens. One automatically puts everyone and everything ahead of ourselves, whether it is because of social pressure or our upbringing, one just does it and forgets that we have to take care of ourselves too. For one thing, which new mother has time on her hand to indulge in pampering or beauty treatments or for that matter to look for the best remedy for adult acne, since your body is not the one you knew all these years, it's a new person with new aches and pains. By the end of the day, I'm too tired to do anything for myself, except make a cup of tea to relax for a while and maybe surf alongside, which is exactly what I'm doing right now. I shouldn't be ignoring my dark circles either, which means I should be heading to bed.

dim the lights, please

At the end of the day, all I want to do is to relax with my cup of tea, maybe to catch up with the newspaper or just laze in front of the television, and in all this, having the right kind of lighting makes all the difference. It sets the tone for the end of the day, signals the time for me to just be there for myself and prepare for the next day. I've always found that unless you have the right light, and the right wattage as well, you're just not going to get the right effect. I recently reduced the wattage of the lights in the living room and it's created a much nicer and relaxing effect, which I crave by the end of the day. Looking for lamps and light fixtures is much more important than one thinks, so next time I'm browsing and come across Maxim lighting, I'm going to stay a while and get something new.

Repost: Memories of travel

I was looking through my old posts and found this one written way back in April 6th, 2006. We lived in Bombay then, in a lovely third floor apartment surrounded by gulmohar trees and lots of crows and pigeons that always wanted to make their nests on my windowsills.

Here's the original post and here's where it was originally posted.

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.

-Lyn Yutang


So true! Memories of travels always take on a larger than life impression. The heat, the rain, the cold and tiredness are all transient. I remember a day spent at Harvard Square in December 2002, wandering around the bookstores, eating at a new age organic food cafe and drinking the life restoring-ly awesome hot chocolate at Au Bon Pain. It was a mind numbing cold day with knee high snow, but the memory has taken on a more sentimental and 'ah, those were the days' value. Now, I remember this day more for the memory of it than actual enjoyment, as I was too miserably cold to enjoy it when I was there myself.

flags everywhere

Have you noticed that no matter where you go these days, the roads are usually lined with flags of some kind. Sometimes they are advertisements and at others they are announcements, and more than likely they will be feather flags of some kind. Colorful flags are a surefire way to get people's attention, whether they are along a busy highway or leading up to a store for a special event. Retailers nowadays have become quite creative about how to build up interest and create a memorable event these days and that's what makes the difference in a successful event.

oops, I'm getting clumsier

Do you go through times when you seem exceptionally clumsy? I certainly do. Lately, I find that I really need to pay attention to what I'm doing else, I'm setting myself up for a fall. We have really high cupboards in the kitchen in this house and I almost toppled over when I was reaching for something from a higher shelf, so now I need to get myself a nice stable two step stool instead of the simple stool that I already have. It could just be tiredness or sleeplessness, not that I haven't had a few good nights sleep lately, but it all adds up doesn't it and I need a nice long rest as well as time when I do nothing at all. Sounds tempting, doesn't it!