Day 1

The day got off to a good start and I fixed the problem associated with xmms in my notebook. I had some good food and cleaned up the room, as Dave had informed that someone was coming over to take a look at the room. I then went to school to get Dr. P’s travel itinerary and a detailed map of Santosh’s place in Pleasanton, CA. Soon, it was time to leave Houghton. After making sure that my office-mates were ready, I called D. P and he came around 4.15 pm. Check-in process was very smooth, at least for me. The journey started on time, was comfortable through out and reached Minneapolis on time After slowly walking through the airport, I had Cheese Pizza (same place as I usually do) and then Mocha in StarBuck} (same outlet), on my way to Concourse G. After copying the pictures to my notebook, I continued updating the diary, which I had partially done earlier, on my way to Minneapolis.

After charging up my notebook battery for a while, it was time to board my next flight to Los Angeles. It was nice to know that my fellow passenger, Susan Karasic, a web designer by profession. An interesting and informative conversation helped both of us learn some new things, although I learned a great deal (keywords) about using Macromedia Flash in web sites and yet make them load faster than usual! I also took a nice video clipping of our flight taking off from MSP. I updated my diary a bit more, took a nap and the aerial view of LA traffic scared the hell out of me! We landed on time, and LA had lot more surprises in store fore me. First one was that there was a shuttle service to rent a car and the rental location was about 5 miles away! The rented car, (Chevy Malibu), was a bit too good and missed on important exit very soon. After roaming around for a while and asking people for directions, finally got back on road and reached Wilshire Grand around 12.45 am (Pacific Time) – it was, true to its name, very grand. After leaving Haiying off, I drove to Quality Inn and the at first (at night) it wasn’t very impressive. After settling down, I went out and familiarized myself with the roads and traffic rules (no free right turn here) and it was about 3.30 am (PT) I finally came back.

Day 2

I got up around 5.30 am, went to Wilshire Grand to pick Haiying up and brought her back to Quality Inn. I then dropped both of them, along with two other Indonesians, at the convention center and drove back to hotel. It turned out to be a good thing that I went to check the route to the airport – not to mention that I missed an exit couple more times, and while returning back, noticed that a part of the route was closed. I then walked around in downtown LA, speaking simultaneously with Pramod and taking photographs of skyscrapers. At the Macy’s Plaza food court, one of the personnel informed me that Staples Center (right next to convention center) was the home of Lakers Guess I am starting fall in love with this lovely city of Los Angeles – it is so much like my home town, Bangalore – weather is pleasant with a cool breeze blowing across even in mid-day and the road side set up (people selling cucumbers, pine apple, pappaya, etc., homeless people with their custom made shelters under the bridge) brought back some good memories of old days.

Tutorial sessions were great – at least the first two and the the third one got into too much mathematical detials, burning me out of energy. I returned back to hotel, meeting Dr. Perger on the way and just when I was planning to have dinner with Anil, I checked my email – Dr. P was arriving in LAX at 7 pm, and I had earlier (for some unknown reason) assumed that he would be coming in around 9.30 pm. I also noticed some denting near the right side lights of the car (must have happened car while it was parked in the curbside) and rushed to the airport to pick up Dr. P. We came back in about 20 minutes, I had some food in Burger King, went back to hotel and slept off pretty soon (around 10 pm, PT) after browsing the net for a while.

Day 3

I got up around 5.30 am and went to Wilshire Grand to pick up Dr. P at 7 am – I met Venkat (and his friends) in Quality Inn, while having breakfast. We all walked upto LACC and I met Anil – after discussing usual things with him for a while, we went to attend some talks, though none made any good impression. I came back to the registration section (Don Wise) and got my name tag corrected. I then bought some stuff to boast off my passion towards Physics. I think the hallway living (sitting down by the wall and doing your work) has got to me and I am enjoying it too. I updated my diary, had some more coffee (I like StarBucks – by the time I return to Houghton, I will probably be addicted to it). I walked through the exhibit area and met quite a number of unknown people from several known organizations – Mathematica, Origin, FemLab, AAPT, etc. I then attended few more talks, that of Haiying’s included and had lunch with Dr. P and Anil in the open-air lobby of LACC.

Certain talks in the post lunch session (chaired by Dr. Sudha Srinivas) were good but seeing people not use the available technology (one of them had hand-written transparencies that were hard to read) pissed me off. I put in a request with APS Membership personnel (I learnt from Don Wise that she was the director of membership) to correct my name in their database. I updated the diary further, before heading out for dinner with Dr. P, Anil, Dr. Ranjit and Dr. Senapati in Gill’s Indian Cuisine – food was good and I guess, I ate a bit too much. I then walked back to the hotel, meeting a cop on the way (whose words boosted my morale, about filing a claim), and drove to Wilshire Grand to pick Anil and drop him at his hotel (Ramada Inn). I came back, after talking to him and his colleague for a while, taking some nice pictures of Staples Center. I couldn’t access the internet in Quality Inn for some reason and I slept off around 10.45 pm or so.

Day 4

I woke up around 5.30 am and was in LACC by 7.30 am, had StarBucks coffee, updated my diary before going on to attend some talks (Dr. Perger at 12 pm, Dr. Jena’s group afterwards, and couple of talks on education between 1 and 2 pm). I had the same food (veg. panini) and prepared for my talk in the afternoon. One of the early speakers turned every body off and it started pouring down. By the time I gave my presentation, there were hardly any left in the room! I went back to Quality Inn, completely drenched in rain (but it felt really good, another striking similarity to those old Bangalore days), to bring the car to LACC. I took one wrong turn and that, in association with heavy traffic, changed our plan – instead of going to the Beverly Cener Mall, we went to Gill’s Indian Cuisine. Just when we were about to decide what to eat, Anil called to pick him (along with Dr. Jena and Senapati) from LACC. Food, like yesterday, was good and a detailed research discussion spiced up the food even more. I probably slept off around 11 pm (PT) probably.

Day 5

I got out of sleep around 4 am, and was in Wilshire Grand around 4.45 am to take Dr. P to the ariport. Fortunately, I did not miss any exits and we were in LAX within 20 minutes or so. I was in LACC around 7.30 am and for some strange reason, did not attend even a single session. Anil and myslef walked around the exhibition (I bought Feynman’s QED), walked back to Quality Inn taking some pictures along the way. After resting for a while (actually, after AKK was done browsing the internet), we went to Beverly Center Mall, located about 6 miles from Quality Inn. Either side of the road had beautiful, aesthetically pleasant houses all the way and we returned back to Quality Inn very soon, expecting that Dr. Ranjit will call. As there was no sign of any call from him and I was feeling hungry, we went to Subway and I got the same usual stuff. I updated my accounts, dropped Anil at his hotel and by the time I returned, I was in very bad hunger – Gill’s Indian Cuisine came to my rescue again & slept off around 11.30 pm (PT).

Day 6

Like almost every day in this week, I got up early and was in LACC by 7.45 am. I updated my diary while waiting for Dr. Ranjit’s call. He did call around 8.15 am – I walked back to Quality Inn, picked Dr. Ranjit and Dr. Senapati from Wilshire Grand and drove them to Beverly Center Mall. While walking around in the mall, I visited few shops – camera accessories, sports valuables, etc. After tasting some not-so-good veg roll, I found a Mongolian Restaurant – best part was that I could choose all vegetables I want and they would cook it right in front of my eyes! I brought Dr. Ranjit and Dr. Senapati to the same place and they too seemed to have enjoyed the food. We came back to LACC just in time for some talk and it went on pretty well. After dropping Anil at his place, I left the car in the hotel and went to Hollywood by train. Discussing my research with non-scientific community (in flights and trains, etc) is becoming a regular thing and I am enjoying it too – this time I discussed with Rick and he gave me some nice tips about what to see in Hollywood. I got off in Hollywood/Highland and walked around for a couple miles in Hollywood Blvd., seeing some stars, footprints, and taking some cool pictures with stunt artists. I returned pretty soon though and did not do anything significant after that – Dr. Ranjit called to confirm tomorrow’s plans and I slept off around 9 pm (PT, way early you think).

Day 7

I got up around 5.30 am and after leaving Dr. Yap, Dr. Ranjit (from Wilshire Grand) and Dr. Jena (from Ramada Inn) in the airport around 6.45 am, I came back and drove to Malibu – driving along Pacific Coast Highway was a memorable experience and so was the time I spent in one of the beaches. I met an elderly couple who showed me their 100-400mm camera (they shoot birds) and I took some my best pictures (a goose, bee on the flower, etc). I returned to Beverly Center Mall for lunch (same Mangolian Restaurant) and then went to UCLA. Driving up through Beverly Glen and Sunset Blvd. was nice, curvy and smooth. After spending quite some time (the buildings were aesthetically pleasant), I returned back to hotel. I then took train to Pasadena (via Union Station) and I met an artist on train and with the help an officer (at Union Station) and few other people, I found CalTech – it has a beautiful campus and I guess I know some reasons why Richard Feynman decided to stay here, in spite of getting some great offers from other universities. I had dinner at the Gill’s Indian Cuisine (Veg Thali – another thing that reminded me of my life in Bangalore, what I usually used to eat in Shanti Sagar). I walked back to Quality Inn and slept off around 10.30 pm or so.

Day 8

I woke up around 5.30 am and packed up all my stuff – fortunately I did not miss any exits and I was in National Car return by 9 am. Filing a damage report and returning the car did not take as long as I had imagined. I reached LAX via National Shuttle by 9.40 am and checking in was pretty smooth. While in the terminal, I called several of my friends (Avinash, Shivu, Srivathsa) and updated my diary. After three failed or so close but just missed attempts, I finally managed to get bumped off and I just can’t complain about it. City of Los Angeles seems to like me and NorthWest provided accommodation in Crowne Plaza (a very nice, probably 4/5 star hotel) and I opted for a free domestic round trip ticket. I called Dr. P (he didn’t have any problem), CMX airport (to keep my baggage safely) and Dave to inform about change in my travel plan. I then updated my accounts and diary, and planned to roam around LA a bit more. First thing was to get some food and I had veg. meatless burger in Carlson’s Jr. (reached via Crowne Plaza Shuttle to Airport, Airport Shuttle to Aviation Blvd., Green Line to Wilmington and Blue Line to 7/Metro). I called up several more people (Santoshs, Anil, etc) and reached Redondo Beach by changing couple of trains. I was in the beach just few minutes after Sunset and yet it was very beautiful and peaceful. I got my pictures taken with couple of localites Alex, John and David. I was back in hotel by 9.30 pm and after having dinner (Pizza) in Crowne Plaza, I updated my website and slept off around 11.30 pm (PT).

Return Journey

I got out of bed around 5 am and reached LAX around 6.10 am. Check-in, like yesterday, was pretty smooth and straight forward. I didn’t realize, until I got into the plane, that I had been given first class ticket I was treated royally all through the flight and I also took some nice photographs. I met a very interesting person on this flight, Mr. Hugh A Langford (resident of Pasadena, ex-DOD fighter pilot and currently a management consultant to some big shots, including NASA, FAA, etc). We talked a lot about his and my work, and he gave some very valuable tips about life and work in general. He was another person who had seen Richard Feynman (his kids studied in a school where Feynman had given lectures more than once and his house was on the same street where Einstein had once stayed). I gave him my QED (by Feynman) book, he then took me to NorthWest World Club, where I updated my diary and spent quite a bit of time until my next flight. I didn’t get bumped off in MSP as the flight to Hancock was underbooked. The last leg of the journey started off on time and I reached Houghton on time too. Weather in Houghton was surprisingly pleasant and winter, not the winter, is drawing to a close – at least, it looks like it is. Dave came to pick me up around 6 pm and after relaxing for a while, I went to get my luggage. On the way back, I had good food in 1807C