A pot of gold

Just as the saying, there was indeed a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, just that it was too big a pot, which we could live in- our home.
Observed last week, this is the beauty of Tampa; when it rains, it pours, and then later the sun tries to poke his nose through the water droplets giving rise to a beautiful rainbow like this one.

In line too early

Its here, the much talked about Apple 3G iPhone, launched @ 8am EST. Its in the headlines catching everybody's attention as many apple fans flock the store as early as possible to get to their fancy love- the new iPhone- Twice as Fast, Half the Price* - haha, yet another hidden asterisk, for the high price you pay just for the plan. I remember when it was launched a year back, it created so much news, and yet people were ready to pay a heavy price of close to $600 for the older iphone- wow!!!
Reported in CNN by a fan, "It's driving a Beamer as opposed to a Chevy". Thank God that this person didn't say, "as opposed to driving a Hummer" with America's increasing Gas Price. So when another person commented, "Steve Jobs knows what people want", is it Steve Jobs knowing what people want or is it Steve Jobs knowing how to make profit?
So while in Rome, live like a Roman applies to me as well, and here I'm off to the nearest Apple store, to catch a glimpse of this new cutie.

When thoughts took my time away

A long break from my blogspot, life was not that easy without it. Infact life has changed a lot over the past one year, coz its been almost a year since I've started working and it is not the same which used to be while I was in school. Not that I can blame "Time" as a cause for all this, its just that the lifestyle has changed, where I barely get time for my passions. I had mentioned in few of my blogs that nature watching, photography, reading, driving and adventurous hiking trips have been a passion for me. Of all these things, driving is not a passion anymore, or else why would I call something a passion, which takes my time, and ends up giving me tension and no relaxation.
Our trips have been continuing, but does not give the same feel of adventure and thrill to do it, rather it makes me feel, of another dreaded week ahead. Work has never caught me so busy that I failed to catch up on my personal life, but it definitely has taken some time off it. Oops !!!! I cant be a constant complainer, at this stage of life; life has just begun for me, giving me new challenges.
I have been away from this for almost 4 months, and am sure not many missed my absence, but this is something which my blog title says: - "Something to share" about my thoughts and feelings on happenings. OK looking at what all happened while I was away, there weren't many changes, just s things which caught my attention...

1. Gas Prices: Americans have always loved their cars especially big ones- SUVs, Trucks and Vans, but with the gas prices updating everyday, and getting over $4.00 a gallon, are Americans thinking of cutting their trips? At least I haven't seen a reduction in the travel and trips, with July 4th approaching, when the gas prices are predicted to be sky rocketing, doesn't seem like many changes in the driving/travel style has it? A CNN report says one in every three Americans say they'll drive closer to their home, within a 100 mile radius, since the gas is too pricey. When its time for inflation, there will always be every day new record prices for the oil per barrel; no complaints....
   
2. The Housing Market drop: While the gas prices reach the summit, there's the housing market which is hitting rock bottom prices, seeing an ever increasing concern over the fore closed home figures. News of people becoming homeless and having to give up their houses and jobs have almost been catching my attention lately, but has this changed? Its the same situation with the top states- Florida, Nevada, California except for the change in the declining figures.
3. Airlines rules: Oh here's something new, well the increase in oil prices directly influencing the air ticket prices, there are new baggage restrictions by many American Airlines, on the number and size of the baggage (yes the carry-on luggages are going to be screened for their size through special frames to check if they will fit the smaller overhead bins). So while that takes its time to come in effect, why not end up paying close to $50.00 for checked in luggages? Now thats a change.
4. Global Warming: When I say this, I might be the nth person talking about it in my blog, but since I decided to see what I missed to report in a few months, it caught in my attention today about the new "Green Cities". Now we are talking something innovative, by using clay, straw and slate as the building materials for small scale housing communities. Well, weren't those the same we used in primitive times, when construction wasn't so modern, and the times when concrete wasn't in vogue? This is an attempt to fight the global warming, by turning to more energy efficient and renewable forms of energy.
   
5. Some minor happenings: There was this big news about salmonella outbreak and the FDA is still fathoming the "root cause" of it, did it emerge from the fertilizer or from the plant itself? Looks like the answer hasn't been found yet, but life goes on the same without salsas, soups, salads, sauces which have tomatoes, or going for the pricey "FDA Approved" tomatoes, free of salmonella. Elsewhere news is either about the fatty nation, ever concerned about its citizen's increasing waist-line or its about fashion mags cover divas or about the iphone ( me being an ardent fan of fancy apple products, it does catch my attention for sure and here I am waiting for the new iph0ne 3G)

Coming to think about it, my absence from the blog world for a short time hasn't changed much in the world news scenario, just that few prices rising and few falling. I was just trying to find some "5 random things" happening around. After all, the world has to change slowly and steadily, for change is what is constant in life.