Entry for February 20, 2008 - day #5

It was the last day of our visit to Vegas, everybody said what will you do for 5 days in Vegas, and we were still feeling we needed few more days. And yes I am not talking about the vacation part, but the Vegas part. But, we had to leave before 11.00 am so we checked out, took the bus, reached airport and took the flight. In the beginning of the fight the flight captain said its -1 F in Boston, everybody screamed don’t start the plan, and we want to stay here. Yes even I screamed. But we reached Boston, and it was 9.15PM. The vacation was over, and we have to go to office tomorrow. Neither of us was in mood. But, good things have to come to an end. So did our vacation. We will again go back to Vegas some time.

Entry for February 19, 2008 Day #4

As it is said that, in Vegas you need nights and not the days, we truly adhered to the rules and slept at 3.30 am, as a result we got up at 7am and Manu woke up at 10am and as soon she woke up she said I am having a bad headache, I was wondering, Manu don’t drink and still headache. Today we went to the top of the world, yes its true and not virtual, we were at 108^th Floor of the building. And everything was so small, at first I was scared, but later it was ok. There were some rides known as Insanity on 109^th floor, and they were real insane. You should really see the pictures to believe them. We had Mexican food for the lunch and we were back on the slot machines. After losing few more moolah, we marched to our rooms for a little rest and to again hit the roads you need some energy.

In the evening we went to Paris, yes another hotel, with their Eifel tower. Yes, we went on this tower @ 88^th floor. Well now the big thing was the lift for this tower was open for most of the height, open as in it was glass lift, so you could actually see what is under your feet and also the whole strip is clearly visible. Eifel tower is right opposite to Bellagio. So we waited for next few minutes with others and the fountain at Bellagio started. It was the most romantic evening already, and to top up with the cherry, the fountain played Celine Dion’s Titanic’s title song. Manu was all mesmerized listening the song in my arms. Well, it was a small song, and Ruby Didi was already there in Vegas for her conference, we planned to see her. Man, people have their conference in Vegas, wonder Doctors study or gamble. So then went to Mandalay Bay to pick her up and then walked down back to Paris. We clicked few pics with her in Bellagio and fountain and Eifel tower. Then by the time we left her again, it was 12.30 and I was dead tired. Manu still wanted to see Wynn, but I was in no mood. So we reached hotel straight away, and I hit the sack, while Manu was up for some time, getting ready for tomorrow.

Entry for February 18, 2008 - Day #3

Third day started with the feeling what will happen without a car. Yes, we were supposed to return the car after enjoying 2 days and 200$ in the rental and gas. Well, Grand Canyon could not be that fast without a SUV and it took us anyway more than 1 day to return, so it had to be for one more day. Anyway we started our ride back home with the famous picture at the starting of the strip at Las Vegas blvd. We covered couple of hotels the ones that were far from Stratosphere in 3-4 hours, and left the rest of them for the night. We reached hotel and while the way back to the room we cruised through casino and thought of trying more hands on the slot machines. And voila, this time we won 20$ of 1cent. This was the first trap for us. We set the deadline for 5 bucks more. After 5 bucks, we saw in the eyes of each other and without saying a word I pressed the spin button on the machine. And yes we lost those 20$ as well, after couple of wins and more of losses. We reached out to our room and had a good evening sleep for 4 hours and got up at 8 o‘clock, and we were damn hungry. We got ready and straight away headed to the Indian restaurant at Rio. Food was damn good and at the same time damn costly. Then we started the journey to the hotels where we left in the afternoon and entered every hotel, we could on the strip, on both sides. We would have walked for at least 3 miles. Our feet were tired but we were wide awake. After we reached the hotel, we sat down at the slot machines and then started playing again, and guess what we again won 23 bucks when playing for 1 cent. We were happy and this time more greedy, started thinking, it would be good if we get the cost of the trip back. But happy times last less…we lost those 23 dollars with the initial 2 dollar investment we did. Although, in the article I read about the slot machine, there was this 10 point important tip. One of them was, divide your money into the days, and then keep the winnings aside. And only play with the initial amount. And I dint follow the same. The only thing I liked about the casinos is you get free drink as long as you are gaming. I guess this is just a little trick hotel guys play to keep the important money coming in.

Entry for February 17, 2008 - Day#2

We both woke up before the phone alarm could ring @ 5. And we were ready by 6.15, could somebody imagine, vacation time and waking up @ 5 in the morning (actually it was 7AM EST). We started for the Canyons. The most beautiful part of the day to be spent at the Canyons is either sunset or sunrise. And we saw both. It was all shades of light orange, dark orange and red after the dull sunrise. We drove another 20 miles towards the east Rim of Canyons. East rim had a better and broadest view. We returned soon after that, to the lodge and started packing up stuff, it was again 4 hr drive back to Vegas. The gps device showed around 6 hours from the lodge to the hotel in Las Vegas. But those awesome roads were simple irresistible. I was driving @ 90 if the max limit is 75 and @ 80 if the max speed was 65. Sometimes, touching 95 too just for the sake of scaring Manu. So the drive for 6 hours was completed in 4.5 hours. The roads were simple amazing. And these people drive here like hell. Was wondering what if they come to New York or any New Yorker comes here? We reached Vegas and reached the hotel lobby - Stratosphere. Finally we got our room and had a hot water bath gearing up for the night. We were still having the car so we did 2 rounds of the whole 6 mile strip. Which I don’t know was possible if we had to walk. Somebody told us there is an option of a bus running regularly on the strip and is a better mode of transportation. We will try that tomorrow. And we were again hungry and tired. So instead of roaming here and there we decided to watch a show and so bought tickets for crazy girls (For those who don’t know what that is I would suggest googling it.).

We returned to hotel after making a trip to the Fremont St, where there is a large, street long TV screen, spectacular and amazing. We also tried our hands on one of the slot machines. And so far the counting of the bets we lost has reached USD 5. After researching a bit over the slot machines, I found out that there is a combination of numbers which decide what combination will be next. There are 32 symbols in a particular roll and 3 rolls for a line across for the most basic machine. So, there is a 1 out of 32x32x32 = 32,768 chances of winning. Generally there are machine which pay you 95 to 98% of the total input, but winning is still decided from the Random Number Generator (RNG).

Entry for February 16, 2008 - Day #1

Vegas Baby

We reached Vegas by 10.30(PST) and it was 13.30(EST). It was a 6 hrs nonstop flight and felt like 9 hrs. We both were dead tired, but according to the schedule we had to rush to see the sunset and sunrise at The Grand Canyons which was another 250 miles (approx.) by road. We reached the rental car complex and then after some confusion we get into the SUV and started for The Grand Canyons. The best part I liked about Vegas is that gambling starts from the airport itself. In fact every person there started speculating their luck even before entering the city. One of the gentleman said he got his luggage first, so is that a luck charm this time ;-). As we hit the roads, they were all deserted, don’t know where all the people go in the day. It was almost looking like am back to my state, Rajasthan. The road to Canyons was only 2 lanes, in fact after some time I started feeling sleepy, as there were almost 0 cars on the roads, and am in the habit of racing with the cars on our famous I-95 (one of the busiest highway which connects all the states from Maine to Florida.) Well we reached the National Park at the Grand Canyon well before the sunset. And we had a chance to catch the glimpse of the famous sunset. More over I forgot to tell that there was snow on the road to Canyons which made us feel at home i.e. Boston. After the sunset, there was pretty much nothing to be done there in the resort, especially when we were dead tired. We had dinner and as soon as we touched (yes literally touched) the bed I was sleeping and snoring. It was the flight time and then the driving part with a 3 hr 1/ 2 hr extended day. Also, we had to get up in the morning before sunrise (@ 7.15).

Skiing - the first experience

After so many postponements due to weather or wife at last went to ski this Saturday.

We went to a ski area close to our place called The Blue Hills Ski Area. It was said to be good for the beginners and also was cheap. We thought what can be best time to learn ski, with great weather and cheap rates.

It was around noon when we reached there with only ski pants in hands. Went in front of the rental desk and standing, staring at her, as if she has to start. Well actually she did. She asked - "First time?". I said yes and then she explained all to us. Total was $228 including tax for 3 people for Entry, boots, skis and lessons. We were given boots made of iron. Was wondering what if these were used for wars. If you hit the enemy with this, he would never be able to stand again. Anyway, wearing boots was the toughest part and taking off was even tougher. I almost pressured so much as if I am about to deliver a baby.

At last wore the boots and headed for the locker, and bang, I hit the opened locker door's corner. Boy, couldn’t be worse than this. As we all say "soney pe suhaga". Well it took another 30 minutes to see the Doc and he doing some paperwork (Yes, US also has that paperwork culture) That paperwork, for which he did nothing :(.

Ski area, the first snow fall experience. The lesson started and we were all excited and Manu was a lot scared. Learnt few steps for climbing uphill, wearing and taking off skis and stopping in downhill. Fun part started, we started with the skiing and down on bums, Rohit fell down on his bums in the attempt to save himself to fall on his face.

We were trying with the small kids, who were actually doing far better than us. It was called the Magic Carpet, specially for beginners. With the least of slope, still we were unable to walk. Well, it was all fun. The trainer was for an hour, and then we practiced on our own. Took a break of 30 minutes and then another session and this time on the steeper mountain. Well going up was easy, coz its the lift, but even a little sight was scary. We slid half way and rolled rest half :-).

It was getting dark and colder by 5PM and every body part was hurting, so we decided to leave and have some rest.

When to become a dad?

I am in an unsure position right now. I am happily married to my wonderful wife for 2 years now.

My wife has reached a point of now wanting children. She is 28 and about to turn 29 (I am of the same age as hers) and also feels it is important for her to have a child soon, partly due to her wish to do so and partly due to body clock.

However, for about 6 months now I’ve been saying I am not ready and putting it off. I have stated truthfully so that I do feel I am getting closer. But I have now reached a point where I am unsure but also wonder if I will ever be sure.

I would like a child, but I’m not really much of a kid person or at least I don’t think so (My wife thinks I get on really well with kids!!).

I think my biggest worries are partly financial (On my wage alone I couldn’t support us, as a joint wage we could).

But I also have a nagging feeling in my mind that when I have kids my life may be over. Don’t get me wrong I know I’ll love my child but I feel any ambitions and hobbies I currently enjoy may go out the window. I work a regular 9 to 5 job, am in a band for which I like to indulge some of my spare time and would like to try and make it more with that. I also enjoy exercising regularly. But by the same token I also enjoy spending a lot of time with my wife.

The question I guess I am asking is when someone knows they are ready to be a dad. Given what i've said above, do lots of people feel like this. And can anyone help with any advice.