Today we (Jessica, her parents and I) headed out of Bangalore to get some peace and quiet in the Nandi Hills. This is an ancient hill fortress about 45 km north of the city, famous for the small temples built at the peak about 1000 years ago. It was nice to get away from the smog, get some exercise, and see some wildlife. One thing we found humorous was how several groups of Indian visitors wanted pictures with us, which we gladly agreed to. My Indiana Jones hat probably contributed to their amusement.
The hike up to the top from the lower parking lot is less than 2 km, and takes 15 minutes or so, even when hiked casually. Here were some scenes along the way.
Lawn art
Just blows me away
Nandi temple
One of the locals
The highlight for me was all the monkeys. We white folk don’t get to see them much unless at the zoo, so we snapped plenty of photos. I will say, though, Lonely Planet needs to mention the 500 or so inhabitants with a disclaimer. Monkeys are not afraid to approach humans and will take something if they want it. Case in point:
Curious monkey approaches
Initial inquiry
A friendly greeting
The plot thickens
Negotiations
Final attempt
Once things seemed to be getting out of hand, Jessica stopped capturing the events and we exited the situation. No one was (badly) injured. We witnessed two other water bottle heists, one from another foreigner and the other from Jessica’s parents. Lonely Planet will be getting an email shortly.
Yesterday was Jessica Loveman (my cousin) and Kevin Morten’s wedding in Newport Beach, CA. Here are a few shots of us. Welcome to the family Kevin!
Shawn, Jessica (gf) and Michael (step-bro)
Mom and Maer
Jessica and Shawn
Reception centerpiece. Pretty.
this is an attempt at my first mobile post to the blog. i’ll say i’m very impressed with the mobile site… i had no idea. it is cumbersome writing in T9 (remember that?). i still own the samsung m610, pretty much the best non-smartphone made.
I recently served as a juror on a month-long criminal trial in Sacramento County. The defendant was charged with committing 3 home-invasion robberies in the Sacramento suburbs. Being a juror is fascinating. A wise co-worker once said that “a month at work will be easily forgotten, but a month in jury duty is something you’ll always remember.” There are a few lessons I took away from jury duty worth sharing (in no particular order):
- 3 out of 12 jurors are complete morons.
- Robbing a house full of people at gunpoint for $40 isn’t worth it.
- Make sure your accomplices aren’t going to accept a plea bargain for 13 years in prison to testify against you in court. You’ll probably get 50 years in prison.
- Getting paid salary to serve on a jury is rad! I highly recommend it over work if you can finagle it.
We found the defendant guilty for 13 out of 20 counts, and mis-trialed on the other 7 (see first bullet point above).
If you’re reading this it means you’ve either added shawnlavoie.com to some kind of rss reader or you never lost hope that I would someday post again. Good for you! I’m back. Actually, Wayne recently informed me that my site was f-ed, so I had to come (do the bare minimum) and set the theme back to default. While I’m here, check out these things online that I like: Pandora, W00t, S&C, HousingMaps. That’s all for now.
I spotted these three Priuses lined up outside the synagogue last Saturday and felt it necessary to capture the all-American memory. It appears three separate parties happened to park in ’flag’ formation and it wasn’t some Toyota gimmick. Sorry for the poor quality of my camera phone. You get the general idea.
New photos of Micah’s Birthday! Express shirt depicted was subsequently retired.
My friend/co-worker Arjan is responsible for this glorious creation. Bless his soul. Then buy books through the site.
Yay! And since I’m being political, watch this awesome video about the scandalous attorney firings, pointed out to me by Lauren.
