Happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali! If you didn't know, Diwali in its original sense, is the Hindu celebration of when God Ram defeated the villain Ravan in Lanka, and rescued his wife Sita. I think that's the main gist of it... am I right my Hindu brothas?

But since then, Diwali has become to mean a lot for Sikhs as well. Essentially, Diwali for Hindus and Sikhs means the same thing, a start of a new year. This isn't necessarily based on any calendar like the Chinese or our regular New Years. But its based more on the recognition to start new, start fresh, and embrace all that is good and begin a new attempt to leave behind all that is bad. (Again, a very generic description).

Even though Sikhs have their own New Years celebration which we call Gurupurab, which is based on the Gregorian calendar, we still embrace Diwali as it holds a special meaning for us. Sikhs celebrate Diwali to remember the release of one of our Guru's and 52 other kings from imprisonment by a Muslim emporor. Since this was a peaceful release of our Guru, this day marked the day when Sikhs were given their religious freedom, and thus was a very special day for all Sikhs. Since then, it has been celebrated very enthusiastically by Sikhs all over the world in order to remember our freedom from religious persecution and to remember what our religion is all about, so that we can all have another crack at being better people.

Now, we all know that I'm not very religious. But I am a Sikh, not only by birth, but also by choice, and so sharing this with people that read my blog was my duty!

Now, go light a candle! :P

Crush of the Week Wednesdays

Jessica Alba
Helpin' you get over the hump...
This is a special CoW. Well, all CoWs are special. But this one does stand apart because it was a request from a dear friend... a dear friend that is about to get engaged... :( uhh... I mean, :)
So, here's Cheers to him on his up and coming life!
So what if you'll never be able date Jessica Alba now... not even if she had to beg you. At least you can take solace in the fact that you're about to embark on a great journey with someone very special! But, if Im' wrong, and you can't find solace in that... then get out NOW!
Just kidding... wishing you two a very happy life together.
And don't worry, I will try and quench your fantasies with a differnt CoW almost every week like I have been... I'll be there for ya!
For now... here are a couple more pics, and a special treat!
Picture #2
Picture #3
Special Treat - you'll need a YouTube account

Keepin' up with da Lingo

Has it been a tough Monday???
You know it has when the BLAMESTORMING sessions at work are seemingly endless, concluded only by the appearance of your SEAGULL MANAGER who's chewing everyone out except for your buddy who has mastered the art of ASSMOSIS. If only the ADMINISPHERE could come now to your rescue! To top that off, you get wrongly accused of CROP DUSTING the CUBE FARM because of the MOUSE POTATO who falsely PRAIRIE DOGGED you out on it. And finally, just when you're done with work, you're headed off to go home to your SITCOM lifestyle and listen to that STRESS PUPPY wife of yours who's busy nagging you to replace her SWIPEOUT cards. That only leads to depress you further as you know that not everything in life can be procured through your office's XEROX SUBSIDY program, and so instead of treating yourself to a night out on the town in GENERICA, you are forced to conserve your monetary resources as you try and entertain yourself with the latest dose of IRRITAINMENT, that is, only if you can get your remote to work with a little bit of PRECUSSIVE MAINTENANCE without breaking it like you did last time.
And all this makes you wonder... what went wrong in your life? What you wouldn't do now to go back before you started acting like you had 404, what you wouldn't do now to stop all this madness before you had that OHNOSECOND. What the heck were you thinking...? And more importantly... where does it all lead to now... surely, one thing that's for sure is that you must turn things around quickly if you ever want a chance of becoming a WOOFY.
But for now, you'll just have to learn to deal with SALMON DAYs like today...

- Not sure what the heck I'm talking about... then keep up with da Lingo!

BLAMESTORMING: Sitting around in a group, discussing why adeadline was missed or a project failed and who was responsible.

SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.

SALMON DAY: The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.

CUBE FARM: An office filled with cubicles.

PRAIRIE DOGGING: When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.

MOUSE POTATO: The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato.

SITCOM-s: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.(I always heard these were called DINKS - dual income no kids or DINKWADS- Dual income no kids with a dog).

STRESS PUPPY: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiney.

SWIPEOUT: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.

XEROX SUBSIDY: Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace

IRRITAINMENT: Entertainment and media spectacles that are annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. The O.J. trials were a prime example. So is Survivor or Fear Factor.

PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

ADMINISPHERE: The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.

404: Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested document could not be located.

GENERICA: Features of the American/Canadian landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, subdivisions.

OHNOSECOND: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake.

WOOFYS: Well Off Older Folks.

CROP DUSTING: Surreptitiously farting while passing thru a cube farm, then enjoying the sounds of dismay and disgust; leads to PRAIRIE DOGGING.....

(Thanks to Palm Jokes for the Lingo definitions)

Crush of the Week Wednesdays

Eva Green
Helpin' you get over the hump...

She's coming to a theatre near you in Casino Royale. Can't wait!

Democrat... Republican... uhh... Republican...?

Now I'm not a politcal freak like many of my close friends... and arguing over politics or how stupid or not Bush is, are not my favorite ways of spending a nice Sunday brunch by the beach. However, I do still have a fair handle of politics in this country... or at least I'd like to think so. But maybe ignorance really can be bliss, and I could be way off!

Anywhow, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think I finally understand the difference between Democrats and Republicans, well, the difference between the two parties anyways. And though I've been a Democrat all my life and have always despised Republicans for some reason, I think that after finally understanding the difference between the two parties, that I'm a probably a little more Republican if anything. Wow, I can't believe I just said that, I'm a Republican! Shiite!!!

Well before you start forming all sorts of opinions about me in your tiny little heads... hear a brotha out! Now I'm not saying I agree with Republicans all the time, in fact I probably agree/disagree equally with both parties. And don't worry, I'm not all of a sudden a big fan of Bush... I do think that he's not an idiot, but still, I'm far from being a fan of his.

I guess I've had this change of heart simply because I've realized that we don't live in an ideal world, and that only so much can be done, and that the choices we make don't benefit everyone. In fact, the well-being of each of us is ultimately in our own hands. And I guess that's why I've changed... because if you cut all the BS and get down to it, the only real difference between the two parties is that the Republicans leave more things up to you, while the Democrats tend to TRY to make things better for everyone.

For example, remember that ad-campaign that Kerry was running, saying that all Americans should have health care that is equally as good as what the members of Congress have? Well, he did say that. And man, if you don't think too much about it, that would be freakin' cool if it could happen. I mean, I already have good health care, but it would be nice if everyone could also have good healthcare, especially people that can't afford it. But if you think about it realistically, something Democrats aren't very good at, we have a limited budget for health care, and a very limited infastructure, so in actuality, the only way in which we could ALL have the SAME health care coverage, would be if it sucked EQUALLY BADLY for all of us... how freakin' lame would that be! In fact, the only way you can have good health care for yourself and your family is by going out and doing what it takes to get it, which is bascially how Republicans view it. No one is going to hand it to you, and if they do, like they do in Canada, then its gonna suck for everyone!

This is obviously an extreme example... but dumb and idealistic policies like this that Democrats keep advocating really have started to tick me off. Afterall, my life should be in my own hands... all I ask is for a level playing field!

Time to go change my registration from 'D' to 'R'!