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February 11, 2018 – Grand Canyon, AZ, USA

After arriving at Las Vegas and spending a night at Flagstaff, AZ, it was time to head to the main event – visiting Grand Canyon National Park.

I had always been fascinated with the great Southwest of the United States. The fact that you don’t see anyone for hundreds of miles and can go on for hours together before finding a stop that you really wanted to visit. I live in Michigan, so I am attracted to kind of things that the Southwest has to offer and love going there whenever I can.

Today started off with us checking out of our hotel. The plan was to get out of Flagstaff and head straight to the Grand Canyon. We wanted to visit both the South and North rim of the canyons, before heading to LA where some of my friends used to live.

The one thing which I still remember and I often praise myself for that is before heading to the Canyons, we stopped at Wendy’s for a quick breakfast. After finishing the breakfast, I got myself a Hamburger for the road. When I got it, I didn’t know where I was going to eat, but I knew it would come handy somewhere in the Canyons.

As we were driving on the road, with the Canyons on the left and huge rocks on the right, we stopped at numerous spots where we could click some beautiful pictures and witness the magic of the mother earth, who could create this majestic natural scene over the period of hundreds and thousands of years.

I still remember looking at the Flintstone Campground board, which was enough to bring back so many childhood memories, when I used to watch Flintstone cartoons. It was nostalgic.

I remember driving through the Canyons for almost 3-4 hours, that’s when I started to get hungry and remembered about the Hamburger that had been sitting in the car for that long a time. We parked the car at one of the viewpoints and I got the hamburger out of the car and I couldn’t fathom the feeling of having a hamburger at the top of the Grand Canyon. It was a surreal feeling, for a foodie like myself. It might not come out as a big thing for someone, but for me, it was a moment that I won’t ever forget. I simply loved sitting on the rocks, looking at the huge Canyons, and taking bites of my hamburger. I wish I could go back in time.

Anyway, it was time to check out the South Rim of the Canyon, when we found out that it was closed for weeks due to something. It was heartening to find it out, but we were glad that we would be able to reach LA before expected time, as both of us were tired.

The car ride back to LA was smooth as I remember driving on the I-5 for the first time and rechecking the Google Maps, when it showed me a total of 9 lanes on the I-5. That’s when I realized how big this freeway was and couldn’t contain my excitement when I realized that. We reached LA safely and I was ready to just crash on the bed after spending more than 8 hours behind the wheel.

It was a long, tiring day!

Next stop: Orange County LA, CA, USA.

Week 10 (February 28 – March 06) – Running 2,021 miles in 2021

After having an absolute blast last week, it is time to target one more week of running. I am planning to finish at least 30 miles this week too. Let’s see how it goes.

Day 59 – 02/28/2021 – 1855/307
The first week of the day and the first run too.

Sunday was pretty busy. I took care of assembling some furniture and cooking too, which made me push my run to the evening time. Fortunately, the weather was so good in Michigan that for the first time in a long time, I could run in my T-shirt and shorts.
As soon as I took the first few steps, I knew the run is going to be great and fortunately, it turned out like that. I could see myself running faster than required as I hadn’t layered up for my run. Usually, my pace is slower than 10′, but today’s run was faster than that.
Loved it.

& this brought us to the end of February. I wished I could have run at least 100 miles in February. I have to limit myself to 70.4 miles.

Day 60 – 03/01/2021 – 1851/306
Second day of running. I think I am liking short runs during this weather here in Michigan. Instead of not going out for a run, I like taking these short runs and building miles for my target of running 2,021 miles this year.

I used the same route that I did yesterday, but cut it short by half a mile, just to be home in time for the evening snack. I loved the feeling of running outside, with some warm weather and anticipating the end of the run as I am now well-versed with the route. Let us see how many more runs I can do on this route.

Day 64 – 03/05/2021 – 1848/302
The last week of the run. I wish I could have gone out more for the run this week, but I couldn’t due to many reasons.
This run was a quick 5K after the lunch. The only downside during or before the run was I ate a bread, which I shouldn’t have. Usually, I have found that if I eat something and go out for a run, then it doesn’t work well for me. That’s exactly what happened.
During the later part of the run, I was finding it hard to continue just because of the food that was sitting in my gut. Anyway, I could finish the run as it wasn’t a long distance run.

Before you go, please check out the week number 10 highlights. I finished 10.6 miles this week, bringing the distance to cover in 2021 to 1848.1 miles, that’s 6.14 miles every single day for the remainder of the year!

See you next week!

February 10, 2018 – Las Vegas, NV, USA

Visiting West Coast has always been a special affair for me and this one was no different.

The flights from Detroit to West Coast are costly, except for Vegas. For this trip, I was going to visit the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, so nothing seemed to be a better destination than Las Vegas. The flight tickets were cheap and I got the rental car for a good deal, so it turned out to be a nice package for me.

When I took a flight from Detroit, it was still cloudy, snowing, and raining in Michigan. When my plane landed in Las Vegas, I could see the bright sun waiting to welcome me in the West Coast. I felt so relieved to be away from the snow for just a weekend and was looking forward to one of the most astounding and grand things a person can witness in his/her lifetime – Grand Canyon.

Before this trip, I had just read about Grand Canyon. If I would have read or researched just a little more about the place, I could have enjoyed it more. Nevertheless, I was just enjoying the fact that I was driving in the different part of the country and enjoying the beautiful sunny weather on my tank top and shorts and flip flops.

After landing in Vegas, the first thing I did was to rent a car and drove in the direction of our hotel. I had booked a hotel in Flagstaff, AZ which was midway between Vegas and Grand Canyon. When I was driving from Vegas to Flagstaff, I didn’t know and anticipate that we would have to spend almost couple of hours in the traffic. The freeway between Vegas and Flagstaff has only a single lane and we were stuck at same spot for more than couple hours because of the major accident ahead of us, at least a mile away. You can imagine the pile up it must have caused because of the accident. Instead of bitching about it, I decided to pull down both the windows of the car and take a nap. I had taken a red eye flight from Detroit to Vegas, so it gave a good opportunity to catch up on my sleep. I must tell you, the traffic didn’t seem long when I took a nap. I think I had to wait for 20-30 minutes more after waking up from my nap. I used that time to get out of the car and walk and stretch my legs a little bit. I hadn’t walked on the American Freeway before, so it was definitely good moment, which I still remember.

We made it to Flagstaff, AZ and got a nice shower. As it had already been dark and we were hungry, we decided to head to nearest Pizza joint and have a few slices of my favorite food. The town of Flagstaff turned out to be a nice one as I could see some nice souvenir stores and a few places for families to hang out. Anyway, the night was upon us and I needed some sleep as we had Grand Canyon ahead of us for the rest of the day tomorrow.

Next stop: Grand Canyon, AZ, USA.

January 28, 2018 – North American International Auto Show, Detroit, MI, USA

Ever since I joined Ford, my interest in cars and trucks have skyrocketed. Before I joined Ford, the only thing I knew about cars was that they run on four wheels and need petrol (or Gas in the US) to run. Boy, I was so wrong and visiting the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) just mirrored how wrong I was about cars.

Before this, I never visited the auto show. In India, I didn’t have time and in the US, I didn’t have the luxury of visiting the auto show, making this a special occasion as my first visit to the Auto Show. Being the first timer, I had an open mind and I was ready to accept whatever the auto show had to offer, and I was glad I went with that attitude. Also, I was accompanied by Monika, Anupam, Aryan, Arnav, and Manju for this, which made it even more special outing.

As soon as we entered the building, I couldn’t have been prouder to see the Ford logo carved across the floor. Immense pride filled me up after looking at the big Ford logo. It made me feel special and helped me realize that I belong there. This sense of belonging was really important for me to enjoy the auto show, as I didn’t want to be a tourist or visitor to this event, but be one of the presenters on the podium.
When I was going through this emotional roller coaster, I saw one of the AVs that Ford put on its stand, which truly became my highlight of the day. During this time, I was working with the AV team at Ford, and seeing that AV at Ford stand made me feel proud and set the tone in the right way for the rest of the day.

Apart from the AV at Ford stand, I saw so many cool Mustangs and loved the one with the Orange color with so many cool interior features. I couldn’t resist sitting inside and enjoying how it feels like sitting in an American Muscle car.

The NAIAS had not only Ford vehicles, but so many other cool vehicles from the Ford competitors; But, I was glued to the Ford and Lincoln stands and spent most of my time there. We spent almost 4-5 hours at the venue where the auto show was held, after which, it was time to experience the Detroit People Mover.

Being the Motorcity, it is hard to find the public transport here in Detroit; Therefore, riding on DPM was certainly a good feeling. It could have been a better feeling had I not ridden the NYC metro, but I would take it. It was a good day, filled with so many memories.

Next stop: Las Vegas, NV, USA

January 14, 2018 – Ice Festival, Plymouth, MI, USA

So, here we are! The first story of 2018 and the year starts with the visit to the Ice Festival held at Plymouth Downtown, a few minutes away from where I live.
I was accompanying Monika and family and Manju for this.

The first story of 2018 was special because of the people that were accompanying me. It was a Sunday, so everyone were in a relax mood to witness the beautiful sculptures at the Ice Festival. It was the first time I was visiting an ice festival and was really excited for the experience of it.

Everyone reached at the pre-decided time and it was time. Once we exchanged the pleasantries, it was time to look at all the beautiful sculptures kept outside, which were made out of ice. Having spent the last year in Connecticut Winter, I couldn’t fathom how creative people could become with snow, until I visited this Ice Festival.
I was pleasantly surprised to see all the “cool” sculptures like the horse’s face, and a logo of some glass company. I enjoyed the simpler sculptures, along with some complicated ones, showcasing the character of Optimus Prime from the Transformer. Obviously, Aryan and Arnav spent most of their time before the Optimus Prime’s Ice sculpture and enjoyed clicking many pictures.

We took a good 30-40 minutes to go through all the things that were put on for a show and when it started becoming too cold, decided to sit cozily inside the Panera Bread, which was a couple feet away from the ice festival. We ordered hot coffee, hot chocolates, and something to eat. It was an nice, relax, and chill way of spending the Sunday afternoon.

Once it hit past lunch time, everyone bade their goodbyes, before heading home.
This trip truly set the tone for the rest of 2018 to come!

Next stop: North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) at Detroit, MI, USA.

Week 09 (February 21 – February 27) – Running 2,021 miles in 2021

The eighth week was not something I wanted the way it turned out. I am hopeful for this week. Let us see how it turns out.

Day 52 – 02/21/2021 – 1878/314
Learning from the disappointment of the last week, I told myself to forcefully go out for the run and I am so glad that I did that.

I needed to make sure I finish at least 10 miles for the run, so I didn’t use my usual route for the run. I took it a couple miles further, helping me bring the total number of miles for the run to 10 miles.
It wasn’t all *ideal* throughout the run. For almost a couple miles, I had to walk through the 7-8 inches of snow, causing me to slow down and burn more energy than I would have. I was frustrated with people or companies not cleaning the sidewalks of their houses and company properties, which had mental impact more than physical one.

Anyway, I could complete the 10 miles run in more than 2 hours, which seemed legitimate given the conditions and temperatures. I was happy with the efforts. At the end of the run, I saw my socks soaked in water, shoes were dirtier than I thought and my pants were frozen at the tails.
It was after a long time that I had run this long, so I took some time to recover from this run.

Day 53 – 02/22/2021 – 1875/313
The second run of the week and what a fantastic feeling it was. I haven’t had a chance to run some distances in the prior weeks, but I got a wake up call last week and I am planning to build on top of that.

Today’s run was around my favorite CCP loop. I had a simple goal in mind and that was to do 10 loops around CCP. The windy and snowy weather got better off me and I could lap only 6 loops. These 6 loops were enough to complete a 5K, which is a good milestone, but I was expecting more from myself.

Day 55 – 02/24/2021 – 1871/311
One more run for the week and this came around Northville Downtown area.

Michigan weather should get credit for this run. The temperatures were in 50s, which made it ideal to run outside without many layers. I was running on shorts after many months and loved the feeling. The better pace (<10′) should be credited to the warm weather and my shorts. I had such a nice time, exploring some unknown territory while going from my place to Northville Downtown. I would like to see how many times I can loop this route before it also becomes boring. I could run for 4.3 miles, and I was happy with the effort.

Day 57 – 02/26/2021 – 1867/309
I was so excited after discovering yesterday’s new route & I wanted to try it again. This time, I headed straight to the new route, skipping a couple loops at CCP. The weather seemed great and I couldn’t stop myself from completing the 5K on the same route.

The energy felt great and I was happy to see people enjoying outdoors in the beautiful Michigan weather. For this week, I know, I have been running more frequently as compared to previous weeks and hopefully, I will be able to achieve the same feat in March too. Let’s see.

Day 58 – 02/27/2021 – 1859/308
The last day of the week and the last run of the week. It was a busy Saturday, taking care of groceries and doing the laundry. I was glad that I got a couple of hours to myself in the afternoon, which I enjoyed by going out for a run.

I wanted to use the same route that I ran on during my Sunday’s run, but wanted to keep it shorter than 10 miles, as I had to go to Monika’s for dinner. I kept my pace just around 11′-12′ minutes a mile to see myself through the end of the run. Running on this route gives me so much happiness and joy, which is hard for me to find somewhere else, and I think, that’s why I love running more and more.

Before starting this run, I had my running goal in mind and I just kept constantly telling myself to get through this run. Whenever I get tired while running, I promise myself to a treat after the run, which usually works and this time too. It was around 7.5-8 miles that I started feeling tired, so I just told myself to have some sugar at the end of the run, which somehow works every single time and I could see myself through the entirety of the run. Loved this week and how it ended!

Before you go, please check out the week number 9 highlights. I finished 30.2 miles this week, bringing the distance to cover in 2021 to 1858.7 miles, that’s 6.03 miles every single day for the remainder of the year!

See you next week!

Book 14 – Prepared – Dianne Tavenner

This was the 2nd book I read in 2021.

The inspiration of reading this book came from Mr. Bill Gates. I went through his Winter read recommendations and found “Prepared” to be the kind of book that I wanted to read. I was hooked to read that it tells a story of a school that the author started from nothing and now is being appreciated by some of the biggest minds on this planet. I needed to give it a read, to learn a few things for being a good parent, which I will be a few years down the line.

The best thing about the book
Learning how to learn. Throughout the book, the author has talked about how her school – Summit Public Schools is different than most other schools in the US. While explaining all this, the most amazing thing that I thought the author told the readers was that her schools don’t go through the syllabus and complete everything needed for students to get into colleges; It was the habit of “Learning how to learn”.

To mention things in Layman’s terms – she mentioned that Summit Public Schools focus on teaching how to fish instead of helping their students catch fishes. It seems so easy, but was really difficult to implement. I loved how the author went through the hardships when the schools were new and not a lot of people knew about those – still there were a few courageous parents, who took a chance and believed Ms. Tavenner and her vision & I must say it has paid off well.

Why to read this book?
If you have a high kid in high school and is prepping for college education, then (IMO) it is the best book for you as a parent to prepare your kids for college.
The best part about the book is that the author has given personal experiences and examples with students. I was so amazed to read about so many cool things that the school kids did. The book introduces us to so many new concepts like THE DECISION GRID.
The decision grid talks about how to arrive at a decision within teams. In the decision grid, each individual in the team is given a role and everyone must adhere and respect the responsibility of their assigned role.
The author explains how to use the decision grid with simple examples like letting kids choose where to go for the next trip. This not only help kids take their own decisions, but also come up with reasonings to back their decisions. While doing so, the author very carefully mentions that no matter how compelling the arguments are, it is the decision makers responsibility to take the final decision and the team has to agree with that. I think, this is an innovative technique to reduce the team conflicts and work towards one common goal as a one Team – the Ford motto that I live by every single day.

What’s best for our kids
This question is put forth by the author on numerous occasions throughout the book. The author, her fellow colleagues at Summit Public Schools, and many more have asked the same question to themselves and everyone “What’s best for our kids?”.
They asked this question when they didn’t know which direction the team was going. They asked this question when they didn’t know what to make of the present and future and they asked this question whenever there were conflicts in the team regarding any decision.

This question has prevailed them take so many critical decisions about Summit Public School that it is hard to imagine those schools without it.
This was the last takeaway for me from this book and I would like to leave it at that!

See you at the next book review!

Week 08 (February 14 – February 20) – Running 2,021 miles in 2021

not a good week 07, doesn’t feel like week 08 is going to be great either.

Day 51 – 02/20/2021 – 1888/315
The only run of the week came on the last day of the week.

As much as I wanted to run more this week, I just couldn’t do it. I don’t have any reasons for not going out for run, I just didn’t feel like going.

On Saturday, I knew I had to go out as I couldn’t let this week go by without any run. I wanted to run a 10K, but limited myself to 5.2 miles by looping the CCP 10 times. I understand if I go with efforts like this, I won’t be able to finish my yearly target of 2,021 miles. Having said that, I am hopeful that I would get more time to run in Summer, as I put the blame of not going for run on snowy and icy conditions most of the times.

Before you go, please check out the week number 8 highlights. I finished 5.2 miles this week, bringing the distance to cover in 2021 to 1888.9 miles, that’s 5.99 miles every single day for the remainder of the year!

See you next week!

December 29, 2017 – Hartford, CT, USA

Ok! This is going to be the last trip of 2017, I promise!

After enjoying a week or so with my family at my uncle’s place in Vapi, Gujrat, I had to face the reality and carry on with my life in the US.

This time, I was flying to JFK, New York from Mumbai airport. I intentionally booked a return ticket to New York as I wanted to meet Shlok & Nidhi before heading to Michigan. Shlok was in town for a couple days and Nidhi also had some free time, so I didn’t want to miss this chance to meet two of my closest friends at UConn and spend some quality time with them.

I am the kind of person, who doesn’t have any issues sleeping on long flights. As soon as my flight took off from Mumbai airport, I feel asleep as it was 12AM in India and it worked in my favor. I only woke up when the air hostess brought some food and drinks for me before landing in some Middle East country to refuel.
I didn’t know this stop existed in my route to New York, so it was a surprise for me. Fortunately, I had all the documents with me in my carry on bag and could go through the immigration at the airport.

Once the stop was over, we boarded the my New York bound flight and I was looking forward to my immigration at New York. Even though I had done immigration a couple times before this, I still had some nervousness going through it; But, instead of thinking of that, I tried enjoying my flight and have some comfort while doing so.

The New York flight went without a hiccup and I had a nice time taking frequent naps between my meals. Before I knew, it was time to land in the city that never sleeps.
Shlok was gracious enough to pick me up from the airport and his extended family members were kind enough to allow me to stay at their place for a couple nights.

Before this, I didn’t know Shlok had an extended family here in New York and was interacting with them for the first time. I had a great time to get to know them and find out how the first generation of Indian Americans live. We talked so many things and they pulled my legs a bit. I didn’t mind it as their house felt like home and they were terrific hosts.

After spending a night or two, it was time to head to Hartford, where our friend, Nidhi, was waiting for us. I had been waiting for this meeting and was looking forward to having some good time. Whenever I visit Hartford, I make a point to visit some of my close friends there, with whom I developed the relationships when I was there and who has become like a family in the last year or so.

It was fun to meet everyone and have some good time. As I had a couple days before resuming work, I made sure to hang out with everyone before continuing my solo road trip to Michigan. In the evening, we dropped Nidhi off at her aunt’s place in Long Island and then headed to Shlok’s uncle’s place to spend the night. The next day, I was supposed to leave for Michigan. It was the first time I was going to drive for such a long time and in a winter weather. I was nervous, but Shlok helped me calm down and told me a couple things to look for while driving this long.

The drive was going to be 12 hours long and I was worried since it was a thick winter time, with possible snow storm in between. Good thing that I had an SUV rented out to me, which helped a lot navigating through many difficult turns.
Asmita bhabhi was kind enough to pack a Chicken Biryani for me for the road. I remember stopping somewhere in Pennsylvania to have it and loved every single bite of it.

During the later part of this long drive, I was confronted by a locomotive who was in the left most lane. I was driving in the middle lane. As the roads were still full of ice and snow, as soon as the locomotive passed me on my left, it pushed all the snow from the road on my SUV. It caused the snow to cover my car entirely and I couldn’t see anything for literally 20 seconds. Thankfully, I could think on my feet quickly and didn’t panic. I just kept driving, assuming that there was no one in front of me and started the wipers. The wipers started going left to right slowly as the weight of the snow and ice made it difficult for the wipers to move in their natural direction.
Anyway, after a good frantic 25 seconds later, I could see the entire road clearly and fortunately, didn’t cause any accident for myself and anyone. I just learnt an important lesson that day to look for the big vehicle and change lanes if possible.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. It started getting dark slowly and I could see outside scenes changing from morning time to the sunset. I was worried about driving in the dark, I didn’t need to drive for long in the dark, as I reached the Detroit Airport at around 7PM.
The one thing I loved about Shlok was that he was constantly checking my location through WhatsApp and sending some quick texts so that I paid attention to the road and reached home safely. It was a small gesture, but really struck the cord with me.

As I returned my rental vehicle, my roommate Ravi picked me up from the airport, and I couldn’t wait to retire for the day. It was one of those days that I slept peacefully, like a baby!

What a way to end 2017!

2018, here I come!

December 28, 2017 – Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

After exploring most of the southern side of the state of Gujrat, it was time to head to Mumbai to catch my flight to JFK. My parents and cousins were accompanying me to the airport, just because they could and most of them hadn’t seen the Mumbai International Airport in person before.

Before heading to the airport, I had some amazing food and chatted with almost everyone I could find. After an hour or two, it was time for us to head to Mumbai Airport. When we were on the way to Mumbai Airport, that’s when I realized the difference between the Google Maps that we use in the US and the Google Maps that they have in India. For some reason, it was showing 5 hours drive to me, whereas my sister’s phone was telling 4 hours. Fortunately, I was wrong and we could make it to the airport in time. The last thing I wanted was to miss my flight back.

The memorable thing regarding this drive to the airport was our Chai break. I really enjoyed sipping cup of tea with my family and that was something that I hadn’t done with them in a long time. I will always remember that moment.

Upon reaching to the airport, we took so many pictures and talked about so many thing. I knew my parents might cry at any moment as their son was going away for unforeseeable future to the unknown land, but I was glad that they controlled their emotions. I was surely going to miss them and my family. I was sad that I was leaving them, but, at the same time, excited to meet my US friends, and have some fun time before resuming work.

One more thing that was particular about this whole incident was that I was accompanied by both Dikshu Tai and Prajwal. Both of them are trying hard to appear for GRE and hoping that one day, they would join me in the US. I could see in their eyes that they wanted to experience the similar thing that I was doing and was happy they felt like that. I will leave it at that.

Before wrapping it up, I would say, it was an emotional goodbye. Someone like me, who always had detested attending family functions and meeting relatives, ever since I moved abroad, I have started paying more attention to family and everything that comes with it. Obviously, it was hard to bid goodbye to my parents, sisters, and cousins. But, at the same time, I was excited to have some relaxed time back in the US.

I was looking forward to meeting my UConn buddies, Nidhi & Shlok. The cherry on top was going to be my solo road trip from New York to Michigan during North American winters.

Excited for the next few days!

Next stop – Hartford, Connecticut, USA.