Visited Chicago in dec 2008.
spent time at the Field museum/Adler planeterium/Shedd aquarium on 24th dec.
(No photos as we forgot our camera in our hotel) :(

Spent 25th at Lincoln park zoo.Was an awesome experience at the Zoo.
Here are some photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/raaapi/Chicago2008#

Now going to Minneapolis from chicago using Megabus

-Raapi

Labels: chicago, MSP, Zoo

Posted by rajesh |

Rome, Italy to Monaco di Baviera, Germany - Google Maps

Places of visit in europe:

rome..naples..florence..pisa..venice..paris...lausanne...interlaken..lucerne...munich

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

A few months ago I refinanced at 5.5% thinking the rates had come down a lot from the 6.25% rate I had from my original loan.

Of late the rates have been decreasing even more.



My mortgage broker,Brad Walters is helping me refinance again for a lower rate.

Here is my Linkedin recommendation for Brad and I could say again that hes really a nice guy to work with.He offered all options of refinancing with/without points/with and without origination fee and I was finally able to select the best possible combo for me.

Brad helped me refinance my home loan recently.He was very adept at handling all the aspects of the entire process with great professionalism and understanding.He is an expert when it comes to Home loan details and is easily reachable at all times. Brad was able to get the best possible mortgage rate with minimal fees and It was a pleasure to have dealt with him. -Rajesh November 14, 2008

Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity

Just in case anyone wants to refinance,it wouldnt hurt to consult him at "http://www.castlehillsmtg.com/"

-Rajesh

Labels: APR, mortgage broker, origination fee, points, refinance

Posted by rajesh |

Visa Bulletin for January 2009

I got my green card few months ago and since then had stopped following the Visa bulletin.
Took a peek at it today and was amazed to find that nothing has changed since when I used to follow this.

Irritating to say the least!When will this system be set right?

-Raapi

Labels: green card, visa bulletin

Posted by rajesh |

My Honda accord's battery died and it locked up my radio system in the car.The anti-theft thingy associated with this radio system gets locked up and needs a special code to make it work again.Little did I know that it was so sophisticated system.Since I had bought the car as a second hand car, I didnt have the original secret code/key and couldn't find it stuck anywhere in the glove compartment or the trunk.

After googling for this, I found out a way to get this done.

1. Turn off the audio unit.
2. Press and hold the 1 and 6 preset buttons, then turn on the audio unit. The display toggles between two screens. The first screen displays a U and the first four digits of the serial number (for example, U2100). The second screen displays an L and the last four digits of the serial number (for example, L8683). Ignore the U and L, and write down all eight digits.
3. Call Honda Dealer for Radio Code.
4. Use the preset buttons with numbers to enter the 5 digits of the anti-theft code into the audio unit. The system would spring back alive!

Awesome procedure!i am glad it worked without having to spend some 100$ through the dealer to take care of this.

-Raapi

Labels: Honda, radio code

Posted by rajesh |

India Security Faulted as Survivors Tell of Terror - WSJ.com

I was wondering all the while during last week's attack at Mumbai, as to how any article would be able to capture the entire episode vividly with all relevant details.
Here is one such article!
Great piece capturing all the details.Really sad to go through it and realize the ordeal faced by innocent people who were just going ahead with their routine.
-Rajesh

Posted by rajesh |