Florida yet again..!!

This year we were not planning on any vacations, but then American Airlines announced it's bankruptcy in November. Over the past year, I took the pain to accumulate miles on AA and here I am wondering if I can use the 100K miles ever ( 95K miles to be precise :P ). After a lot of discussions with Mansi, we zeroed on Orlando and Miami as our vacation getaway. Florida is our favorite destination so far, considering that we have been there 3 times in the past 6 years. Devotees go to Kashi or Haridwar on their annual pilgrimage and we end up visiting Florida :P I used all my miles to get a one-way to MCO and first class return tickets from MIA. 

Day 1: We decided to visit Daytona beach shores on our first day. Unfortunately due to traffic and accidents on the way, we managed to reach our hotel well after sunset. Not getting to walk along the beach during sunset did not dampen our spirits and we set out scouting for dinner. One of the recommendations we received for seafood was Aunt Catfish's On The River We had a mixed platter of catfish, tilapia, salmon and sweet potato fries with pineapple relish. The food was very delicious and is incomparable to the seafood we have at restaurant chains in cities. 

Day 2: I managed to click a few pictures the next day morning.

Daytona beach is by far the cleanest beach I have visited so far. We strolled along the beach after breakfast, took a couple of snaps and hit the road again. We drove back to Orlando airport, picked Mandar, Shirin and Meher and set off to Disney's Magic Kingdom. 

Disney's Magic Kingdom is a very large and extremely well managed theme park. We spent the rest of the day at Disney meeting Meher's favorite cartoon characters mostly princesses and fairies. The Disney castle is lit up in the evening and looks magnificent. There are a couple of shows featuring cartoon projections on the castle, followed by an electric parade and fireworks. One thing to note is that it's more convenient to take the fast pass so that kids can meet their cartoon characters faster. The food at Disney's is plain ok and very expensive. I recommend making reservations at restaurants early enough. 

Day 3: We drove from Orlando to Miami along I-95 and we decided to take a pit-stop at West Palm beach. We had lunch at an Indian restaurant Indus, which ironically was the only place open on Christmas day. The food was delicious and they had a $15 buffet with unlimited beverages and alcohol. Mandar's friends caught up with us at Indus and all of us left for West Palm Beach. West Palm beach is a very affluent neighborhood and is lined with colonial style villas. The beach itself was very nice and clean. After spending an hour or so at the beach, we headed to Fort Lauderdale. We made reservations for dinner at Las Vegas Cuban cuisine. Cuban cuisine is very similar to Mexican cuisine and the food was excellent.

Day 4: We stayed in Miami and and headed to South Miami beach by noon. South Miami beach has metered parking spaces, but finding a parking space is a bit difficult. We rented bicycles for $5/hr and cycled along the beach. Miami boasts of it's interesting Art Deco architecture. Most of the buildings from 7th to 14th street display their loud and colorful architecture. We had lunch at Pelican Cafe. This place was very pricey and was very deceiving in terms of the offers mentioned by the hostess. On a second note, we should have read the Tripadvisor reviews regarding this place. After lunch, we whiled away our time at the beach and then after sunset we headed to the airport. 

Overall, I loved this quick getaway to Florida. I wish we had more time to travel to Key West, but then that's for another trip ;) Looking forward to my next visit to Sunshine state !!!

What else to look at before moving to your new job? (Cost of Living comparison)

I have used a lot of tools to help me when I moved to a new city to determine the Cost of Living (COL) and to help me negotiate a job offer. These are a list of different websites that have reliable statistics based on different parameters. I wish one of the smartphone app developers to use these websites (with permission of course !) and integrate with the awesome Hipmunk UI. What an app would it be !!! 


Even Indeed or other job portals should link to these statistics and I am sure the job applicant will be happy to visit one site, apply for jobs, and (if the applicant interviews somewhere) he/she can quickly check the COL expenses and see if the new job site is more or less expensive than where he/she is staying now.


(Assumption: these websites are helpful if you have been selected for an on-site interview)
1. Glassdoor: Excellent website to check the interview process, sample questions asked and the average salary for specific position.
2. COL comparison: This website helps you compare what salary to expect at your new job based on your current compensation and how it should influence your decision while negotiating a job offer.
3. Paycheck comparison: This website helps you determine how much your paycheck will amount to after taxes. Very useful in determining your mortgage/loan payments. (The link opens Arizona state by default. Use the drop-down field to change state)


I hope these links are useful :)

Connect Airport Express as WDS relay to DD-WRT Linksys

Recently I got an Airport Express (Late 2010) running 7.5.2 firmware version. I wanted to connect the Airport Express using it's LAN port to my TV thereby enabling the internet on the TV. 


I googled around and came to 3 links:
1. Old download squad link
2. rgbdream link
3. DD-WRT link


I followed couple of the steps from the 2nd link and have described it below:


I. DD-WRT (Save settings after each step)
1. Connect to your DD-WRT router using an ethernet cable and change the Wireless security setting to WEP. Select the 26-bit setting and generate the key. Please copy this and save it for connecting to the DD-WRT router later.
2.  Wireless -> Basic Settings Set the channel on the DD-WRT to 1.
3. Wireless -> WDS: Select LAN option and enter the Airport Express's "AirPort ID" (can be found on the underside of the AirPort Express itself - be careful not to choose the "Ethernet ID"). I also named it as "AX"
4. Set Lazy WDS and WDS subnet to disable
5. Administration -> Management: Set Loopback to disable.
6. Security -> Firewall: Turn off "Block Anonymous Internet Requests."


II. Airport Express settings (Please connect the Airport Express to the DD-WRT router using an ethernet cable till the end)
1. Reset the Airport Express. Unplug the AirPort Express from the power outlet and press and hold the reset button. While still holding down the reset button, plug the device into a power outlet. Hold down the reset button until you see the light flash green four times. Let go of the button and the device will reset itself. Wait the requisite 45 seconds and configure it with the AirPort Express Assistant or AirPort Admin Utility. Instructions 
2. Click on "Manual Setup" after you see your Airport Express in the Airport Utility.
3. Airport -> Base Station -> Give your Airport Express a name (use the same one you entered in the DD-WRT WDS page. (step 3 from DD-WRT settings)
4. Airport -> Wireless -> Wireless mode -> Select "Participate in a WDS network"
5. Select the Wireless network you are connecting to and this should be the same as the one on the DD-WRT setup.
6. Radio mode -> Select 802.11 b/g compatible mode. Once this is done, you can copy the 26-bit key generated by the DD-WRT.
7. Select the same channel.
8. Airport -> WDS -> Select "WDS Relay" as the WDS mode.
9. Enter the Wireless MAC ID from the DD-WRT to the WDS Main field.


Click Update and the Airport Express should flicker from orange to green. You can unplug the ethernet cable from the Airport Express and now use the Airport Express as a WDS relay.

Trip to London - Part II

Couple of tips when planning for a trip to London, UK:


1. London, UK unlike most of the cities in USA is very well connected and public transport is just awesome. For planning trips, I used the Transport for London website. Another tip for people who end up staying near Heathrow hotel, you don't have to pay for the Hotel Hoppa (about 5 pounds) to go to the airport. There are a couple of free buses that go to Heathrow Airport and you can take them to the airport or the nearest train station (Hatton Cross).


2. For traveling using Tube, make sure you buy an Oyster card if you are on a longer trip. Else, take the day pass (about 8 pounds) if you intend to tour Central London for just a day.


3. The long-distance/overground train ticket prices fluctuate a lot. I use thetrainline.com and it's accompanying iPhone app to plan my trip to Durham, Cambridge, etc.


4. A trip to England is incomplete if you don't visit Scotland. Most of the time, the train ticket is almost equal or more than an air-ticket. 


5. When planning a trip to Scotland, look up the different tours offered. I ended up taking the Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Highlands tour by Timberbush. 

View of the Scottish landscape during one of our pit-stops

6. Also, an excellent tour to take is the Royal Whisky Heritage tour. Hint: Don't buy Whisky, as it's very expensive, instead pick a bottle at the airport duty free shop. You will get the same brands (Balvenie, etc) a bit cheaper.

World's largest Whisky collection - 1

World's largest Whisky collection - 2

World's largest Whisky collection - 3

7. Use the Traveline Scotland website and iPhone app to plan your trips in and around Edinburgh. Hint: Keep some pounds change (around 1.5 pounds) for the bus fare.

8. The Wi-Fi in most of the hotels were very expensive (about 15 pounds per day). You can opt for a Mi-Fi rental from XCom Global (if you are traveling from USA). The rental rates are very reasonable and allows unlimited internet access. XCom's Mi-Fi service has been recommended by EnGadget and I rented the Mi-Fi for my entire trip. I also rented an extra battery pack and took the insurance as well (Since I rented for a month or so, the rate was around $13.90 per day).

Thanks to Sushant Jeurkar for helping me with the Scotland trip planning. Thanks to Ameya for taking the time and showing me around Central London :)

Posting some random snaps:

Durham Cathedral

Random Cherry Blossom @Durham, UK

College @Cambridge

King's College @Cambridge

Westminister Abbey

St Paul's Cathedral @London

London Eye

Big Ben

London Bridge

Piccadilly Circus @London 

Lord's Cricket ground 

Match in progress @Lord's Cricket ground 

Sherlock Holmes Museum 

Regents Park - 1

Regents Park - 2

Trebuchet @Fort William, Scotland

Scott Monument @Scotland

Scottish Parliament @Scotland

Interesting Chess Whisky set @Whisky tour

Crown Office @Scotland

Church/Cathedral near the Assembly @Scotland

Oldest Whisky :)

Tower of London bridge @London

Guard

One of the Towers of London

Parade at Buckingham Palace

Memorial in front of the Buckingham Palace

Trafalgar Square

Trip to London - Part I

In Feb, I was asked to send my abstract to the AO workshop being held in Durham UK. I fervently started googling to find out the visa process in case the abstract was accepted. The UK visa application process (when applying from USA) is submitted online. It's very detailed and at the end of the application, you have to go for a biometric scanning. After the biometric scanning is done, send the documents by courier to the UK embassy. Two grouses: (1) the visa application website does not say the charges for the visa until you finish everything. Perhaps, it would be easy if we know the charges for a 6 month multiple entry vs 1 year multiple entry upfront. (2) the application instructions mention that you should send a confirmation of your travel plans including air ticket. Another paragraph says that tickets should not be bought unless the visa is issued. This is misleading. 


So I sent all my documents without booking an air-ticket. The UK visa was approved and I received my passport in 5 days :)


One thing that I forgot was getting an US to UK adapter plug. I suggest getting that adapter in US before travelling. My itinerary involved trip to London-Durham-London and back. But then the trip turned out to be longer than planned.


To be continued ....

Jan 14th 2011

D-day. Status updated from single to married. 


Note to myself: I want to see when everything will return to normalcy. If yes, how much time will this process take?

10 things about 2010 - my perspective

2010 just whizzed by. Here's my perspective on top 10 things that 'happened':


10. Traveled a lot this year. 4 more trips and I will reach Gold status with AA.
9. Flat panel LED TV- internet connected finally. (Mansi & Neeraj are aware of my failed boxee attempts :P)
8. Trip to Atlantic City :)
7. Upgraded to the new iPhone4 that helped the long distance relation with FaceTime. But the alarm SUCKS !!!
6. Meeting friends after 10 years - priceless :) 
5. Spending Diwali with Meher :)
4. Moving to a new place is tiring but it is something to look forward to. Sunspot is an amazing place and this movie captures what I felt initially !!!
3. Winning 2 research proposals. Conducting independent research and collaborating with a group is awesome :)
2. I always wanted to buy a manual transmission car and I finally had that dream come true. Traded in the good ol' Pontiac for the new Accord :P
1. My first job :)