Month: May 2010

Hennepin Canal Parkway Carnival, Colona, IL

The carnival at Hennepin Canal Parkway, Colona, IL is worth visiting once if you have nothing else to do on the memorial day weekend. The small city has annual parade and carnival on the memorial day.

Hennepin Canal Parkway

Hennepin canal parkway is a popular site for fishing. There is a boat ramp at the end of the canal which joins the Rock River.  The play area and the park by the canal are a good spot for children and young adults. We saw many young adults and high school kids at the park enjoying their summer evenings.


Carnival > Rides and Games

The carnival has many interesting rides. They include the Wipe-out, Super slide, Dashing car, Pumpkin ride among others. The tickets for these rides range from 3 to 5. The tickets can be purchased at the carnival entrance. Thwy cost $20 dollars for 21 tickets or $40 dollars for 41 tickets.

The other games include catch a fish, gold fish, balloon throw, ball throw, dart throw, gun shoot and others. These games are expensive. The charges are $3 for one chance or $5 for three chances. If the player wins in these games, they get a soft toy as a prize. Some games are compulsory win a prize irrespective if you win or lose.

Fun for Children

The carnival is fun f or children in the neighborhood with the rides and games. The children will sure enjoy the time in the carnival as they have games and rides suitable for all ages. Once you are exhausted with the rides and lost enough money, you can spend some time in the park and come back. 🙂

Why Walking is the Best Medicine for all Ailments

We have heard many people saying that, “Walking is good for health”, “My doctor has advised to walk thirty minutes a day”, “Walking reduces body weight” and so on. I was always wondering what may be the actual benefits. But, lately I realized that walking is the best medicine for all ailments.

Benefits

Here are many benefits of walking apart from weight loss and controlling diabetes and blood pressure:

  • Walking engages us as we prepare and plan ahead to get out on time
  • While walking, you are also observing the nature, which is relaxing and increasing your observation skills.
  • You may encounter different thoughts or plan of actions while you walk.
  • You can discuss many personal or professional topics while walking.
  • Discussing or talking out your mind actually relaxes your mind and the day ahead.
  • You may listen to good and soothing music while walking.

Tips


  1. It is better and essential to have a walking companion, may be, your spouse, or a friend, or your child, any body, who can accompany you in the daily walking routine.
  2. Start and plan your walking.
  3. Remember to wear good pair of shoes and loose clothes.
  4. Further, you may have light breakfast or tea or coffee before you walk.
  5. Choose a convenient time and set the total walking time comfortable to your body rather than over-doing it.

One may notice drastic changes initially, but once the change is stabilized, it will be consistent. Therefore, it is suggested to continue the walking at the same time of the day.

Most of all, the entire excitement lies in getting out of the home and completing the routine. You will feel a sense of satisfaction and success if you complete your walking routine. It is a supplement along with the food, medicine and rest you take daily. So, happy walking and best wishes to achieve your weight loss target. 🙂

Three Steps to Post a Google AdSense Ad in Your Blog

Google Adsense is widely popular among the blog industry. Everybody is blogging, but the real challenge is setting up the ads in a WordPress blog. Here are three simple steps to post an ad in to your blog.


1. Login as Admin to your blog
  1. Click on Posts menu and select a page to insert Ads
  2. Select HTML view for inserting google Ad javascript code. Leave an empty line above and below the <script>… </script> tags
  3. To add the Ad beside the blog image: Add <table><tr><td>Ad script or blog image</td><td>Ad script or blog image</td></tr></table>
2. Login to AdSense to create an ad
  1. Under AdSense Setup, identify the content type and subject for which you need the ad
  2. Click AdSense for Content to select ad type
  3. Decide the place where you want to show the Ad on blog
    • Just after the heading of blog => rectangular image or text 700 X 15
    • In the middle => rectangular preferably text with multiple columns may be 4 or 5
    • Next to a image => square 300 X 200
  4. Select Ad Unit. You can experiment with Link Unit also
  5. Select Size horizontal or vertical and so on
  6. Add five subject categories related to the blog contents
  7. Give a name to the ad and generate javascript
  8. Copy the javascript from the text box


3. Go back to the blog contents and paste the javascript
  1. Save and Update and Publish the blog
  2. See the blog and make sure you have the correct ads appearing
  3. Click back to Manage Ads and edit if needed
If the ads are not to your expectation or want to change any categories you can go to AdSense and make the changes without copying and pasting the javascript again.

The AdSense is smart enough to post the ads according to the changes you make there without copying and pasting the javascript. Happy advertising and happy blogging with Adsense. 🙂

iPhone Apps and Accessories – A Newcomer Guide

Are you a new iPhone owner? Are you confused how to set it up? And are awed by the large number of Apps available? Welcome to the iPhone club. Here are some tips and best practices for you and your iPhone.


My husband and son cannot stop jumping after seeing the new iPhone which we got yesterday. The instructions book said to charge fully, but did not mention how long. And we have to switch it off before charging. So, how do we know if it is fully charged.

Setting up

  • Do not switch on the iPhone initially
  • Charge the iPhone using the charger provided
  • Wait for half-an-hour to one hour and switch it ON. Check if it is fully charged.
  • Download the iTunes software from apple.com/iTunes
  • Register your phone as per the instruction manual
  • Make a test call to any other phone number
  • Connect the Apple iPhone to your personal computer
  • Start downloading the applications

iPhone Apps

You need not download all the Apps given there. You can choose among the free apps given under each category. The Apple iPhone website lists all the paid and free apps under different categories. The Apps for keeping current and the Apps for fun and games are useful. Alternately, you may browse through your iPhone to download an application.

I found the following Apps useful:

  • Apps for Business: Currency Converter, Jobs, iSchedule
  • Apps for keeping current: CNN Mobile, FOX News, Yahoo, TIME Magazine, NYTimes
  • Apps for Music: Rhapsody, Top 100s by Bing
  • Apps for Students: Dictionary.com, Math Magic,  Math Drills
  • Apps for Working Out: Diabetes, Body Fitness, Weight Watchers, Calorie tracker, WebMD, Runkeeper
  • Apps for Managing Money: Expense tracker, Bill tracker, Personal assistant, Wells, BillMinder
  • Apps for Fun and Games: All-in-1, PAC-Man Lite, PandaMania

It is essential to read the customer reviews. Some apps work only on certain version of iPhone and only on Mac computer. The ‘fringe’ app is also useful in calling outside the network and saving minutes! Register at ‘Textfree’ app to send free texts to any other mobile.


iPhone Accesories

Now after the iPhone has arrived, there is a desperate need for its accessories. 🙂 Here are some of the additional accessories you may need for your iPhone.

  1. iPhone LCD Protector – To protect the screen from scratches
  2. iPhone Leather pouch – To carry your iPhone
  3. iPhone Car charger – To charge it in the car on the go
  4. iPhone Additional charger  – To avoid the hassle of carrying the charger to and fro from office
  5. iPhone Emergency battery – To charge the iPhone where you do not have a laptop or other plugin options
  6. iPhone cradle – To charge and rest your iPhone

meritline offers iPhone accessories at a reasonable rate. But, they take two weeks to deliver. If you cannot wait that longer, eForCity can send you the product instantly. The docking station at amazon is $24 and can accommodate your iPhone along with its LCD protector.

In addition, buy.com, newegg, tigerdirect, tech4shop are some other websites to check for iPhone accessories.

Remember to read the user reviews and additional information  before ordering any product and check for its compatability for the iPhone you own. Best wishes for your new iPhone and the monthly internet service charges that your provider bills you. 🙂

Regis and Kelly – A fresh way to start your day

I saw Regis and Kelly when I was randomly browsing the channels. Eventually, I got addicted to this show and hooked on to this weekday morning show airing  from 9 am to 10 am on ABC channel. This is why I like Regis and Kelly!


Live with Regis and Kelly is a chat show airing on ABC channel from New York city. It features Regis Philbin, who has been hosting the show for over 25 years. Kelly Ripa has been co-hosting the show for about ten years.

Regis Philbin

A native of New York city and supporter of the Yankees, Regis Philbin has been a host for talk shows and game shows. He won numerous awards including the Guinness record and Emmy award for his performances. He featured in the movie Shrek and created an music album with his wife Joy.

His wit and humor along with knowledge on political, sports and entertainment industry makes  his presence and performance special.

Kelly Ripa

Kelly Ripa was acting in a day time opera “All my Children” and is one of the funniest women on television.  She has couple of Emmy  nominations and has voiced for a few animation movies. She hosted other talk shows on ABC and is famous for her sense-of-humor.

She and her husband Mark Consuelos have a production of their own in New York. Her ease of receiving the guests on the show along with the funny comments make the show more lively.

Michael Gelman

The show’s executive producer is Michael Gelman who is often the victim of Regis’s frustration. Gelman receives the comments in a sportive manner and guides Regis and Kelly throughout the show. Regis and Kelly tease Gelman often and he in turn adds to the fun of the television show.

The Show


The show has multiple trivias, contests, performances, recipes, fitness, gardening among other seasonal interesting themes. The show introduces new actors, books, musicians in the industry apart from gaining insights of the upcoming and experiences actors.

Regis and Kelly act funnier while they call people throughout the USA. The chemistry between them is amazing and the timing of the comedy is commendable. The hosts talk about weather, TV shows, movies, daily routines and about everything. They make all the topics seem funny and humorous.

I laugh out loud many times just watching the facial expressions of Regis and Kelly. Their comments in the show make my mornings lighter and are good for a positive and happier mornings. 🙂 I wonder how they appear every day mornings without any hint of tiredness.

Kuul Stuff -> Coupons

Here is a shopping spree in the spring.

KuulStuff.com is bringing Kuul Coupons from different retailers and wholesalers. The source for these coupons will keep varying to find best deals and very soon you will be able to compare, print and add these coupons to your wishlist on KuulStuff.com….wait and watch.

Currently, we have best deals/coupons from Walmart and Amazon on this page.

You can Share the Kuul Coupons you are aware of as comments to this blog.

To support, please write comments and click couple of Ads 🙂

until then Enjoy Shopping!!


Weekend Getaways in Quad cities: Savanna, IL

Savanna is around 60 miles from Quad cities and can be reached within one and half hour. It is located along the Mississippi river and at the mouth of the Plum river.  It is a small city also known as Sportsman’s paradise.

Road trip

During summer drive you can see many bikers racing on the road to Savanna and Galena. The road trip is pleasant with abundant greenery by the road side. You can see Albany and Thomson on the route and Exelon nuclear power plant in Clinton and 3M manufacturing plant in Cardova. The bridge between Savanna and Sabula in Iowa was constructed in 1932.

Activities

The Mississippi Palisades State Park is a major attraction in Savanna. The State park facilitates different activities such as boating, camping, hiking, biking, hunting, picnicking and fishing during summer. Cross-country skiing, sledding and ice fishing are the sports possible during winters.

Wildlife

The park gives a dense forest-like environment and is home for birds, wild turkeys, shore birds and eagles. Other animals that could be traced include deers, squirrels, muskrats, skunks and weasels.

Must See

The layout in the park is clearly marked and is self-directed. The lookout points and other points are oak point, Louis point,  Ozzie point among other site seeing platforms. The Indian head and Twin sisters are the rock formations which can be found there. The park is home for hiking trails which are clearly marked.

You can hear only the singing birds in the park and has peaceful and quite environment. It is ideal for children to experience different atmosphere in the forest. The train whistle and the tracks can be heard which is also amazing to watch. It is worth driving and visiting the park. 🙂

Nearby Attractions

Savanna Train Car Museum contains railroad artifacts and Monument park and Marquette park are some of the other attractions in Savanna. You can drive further ahead on the highway to reach Galena in Illinois which is a scenic road trip.

Weekend Getaways in Quad cities: Le Claire, IA



Summer weekend can be utilized to maximum potential by exploring surrounding cities of Quad cities. If you have no appointments or parties you can get away to nearby cities and enjoy the road trips. Here is what I observed when I visited Le CLaire last weekend.

Le Claire is a small town by the Mississippi river which has abundant greenery. Mississippi river is the largest river flowing across the US. The people living around the river are lucky to enjoy the beauty of the river. The river takes a sharp turn at Le Claire to the west at the head of the rapids making the town an important place for river commerce.

Yesterday owing to the weather it was sultry, warm with cold breezes. If you are visiting Le Claire in the business hours, you can visit the museum and the shops there. My Sister’s Coffee shop offers variety of coffee flavors. If you visit Le Claire after business hours, you can just enjoy the riverside beauty and come back.

The walk along the river side and the boating decks are good time pass. It is fun to watch the birds and listen to the flowing water. Being summer you can see many boats racing in the river. I think a boat is a must for people living around the Mississippi river! 🙂

The Tug Fest and Cruises are some of the popular events of the town. The Riverboat Twilight offers a two-day cruise from Le Claire to Dubuque and back. The serenity by the river and the greenery make a Le Claire worth visiting at least a year, in fall as well as in summer.

Movie review – Iron Man 2

Rating: 3/5

Robert Downey Jr. with his amazing smile and penetrating eyes plays a powerful yet sometimes vulnerable Iron Man. In this sequel, Iron man exposes himself to the general public and reveals his true identity. The government wants him to return the Iron Man suit which is his propreitary.

Tony Stark, the hero, does not want to handover his property and special suit to the government. He claims that the suit is safe with him and no one can destroy the nation. Meantime, the past enemies of Iron man and his father plot to create an alternate suit and kill Iron man. The villain is a physics scientist who creates powerful gadgets to kill Iron man.


The movie is all about how Iron man discovers his father’s treasure and his ambition and how he destroys the enemies. The plot is beautifully laid and the characters action is mature enough. The side kicks played by one of the heroines (Scarlett Johansson) and the hero’s friend (Don Cheadle) are apt and support the main hero. Samuel Jackson plays a guest role as a surprising friend.

The movie is rated PG 13, but our kids can watch freely. Only couple of scenes are not suitable for young audience. But, overall the movie is engaging and entertaining. The technical gadgets shown in the movie are high-tech and the Iron man suits are great.

The  movie is a good time pass to watch with family. I wonder what happens if the armed forces really got the Iron man suits. 🙂

Engaging kids in Summer 2010

Summer vacation is around the corner and most parents especially at-home mothers must be horrified at the thought of having kids in the house 24×7. It is difficult to engage the kids in summer and try to match to their expectations.
Travelling and visiting elders and grand parents is the best alternative but may not always be possible. However, here are some of the ideas which you can try out.
  • The local public library has very good programs for kids during summer vacation. the reading programs and book bunch clubs encourage kids to read as well as socialize with others. The best part of the program is it is absolutely free and there is no charge involved.
  • The local swimming camps coupled with Red Cross and YMCA offer swimming sessions at a reasonable rate. They can charge a nominal amount of $48 per an eight class session. Blackhawk college has some summer youth camps for youth ages ranging from 8 to 18 years. These classes include pottery, writing, lego games, Stage performance and so on.


  • You can send them to summer camps at YMCA and at Abe Lincoln. These are a little expensive but include camps with families which may be a wonderful experience with your family.
  • You can send them to East Moline Christian School for summer school. They charge $175 for half day (8 am to 11.30 am) and $300 for full day (8 am to 3 pm) apart from $45 registration fees. The charges are higher but the coaching and the teachers provide support for your child’s academic development.
  • The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) has summer programs for children in grades third to tenth. These programs are great to encourage children to learn mathematics and science. The programs cost $250 for five full day sessions from 8am to 3pm. It is a day session. So, you have to pick and drop your kid daily.
  • You may check out other local events and take your kids to the event. The Rock river music festival and the tug fest are two great events and offer a new perspective for children.
  • The public parks offer a variety of programs such as movie in the park or bike race or one mile family walk which are great for family fun.
  • Summer 2010 has many new upcoming movies releasing which are fun to watch with family and children.
  • You can visit places such as Wisconsin Dells, St. Louis, Mt. Rushmore or Washington DC or any nearby attractions which will be educational and entertaining for the entire family.
  • You can encourage the kids to learn a new language or pick up an activity book from Brain Quest to pass their time in a productive manner.

Parents must limit the time for watching TV and playing video games. It is a better idea to prepare a summer timetable and let them follow their own rules. 🙂

Cloud Computing – The Next Big Thing

Cloud computing is based on the internet (Cloud) for developing computer technology (Computing). It involves delivering hosted services over the internet.



Gartner have said that “Cloud computing heralds an evolution of business that is no less influential than e-business”. It does add though that “cloud computing is very much an evolving concept that will take many years to fully mature”.

However, Robert McGarvey says that by 2012 only 21% of businesses will not be using Cloud Computing and 20% of businesses will own no IT assets.

Significance

Information Technology faces continuous requirement of extending the resources without increasing the cost. Cloud computing can assist IT in increasing the capacity and adding capabilities.

Cloud computing supports latest models for IT services that are developed over the internet. It involves the provision of dynamic, scalable and virtual resources as a service over the internet. Cloud Computing helps reduce IT infrastructure costs and enhances competitive advantage in an IT company. It can support additional users and can create flexible IT environment.

A recent study by Aberdeen Group revealed that companies adopting Cloud Computing have reduced IT costs by 18% and data center power consumption by 16%.

Applications

Companies such as Microsoft, Google, Salesforce.com, NetSuite, and Amazon among others have deployed Cloud Computing in their services. The three main services supported by Cloud Computing are:  

  1. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): With Cloud Computing, infrastructure vendors can provide physical storage and processing capabilities to support services on the internet.
  2. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): With Cloud Computing, companies can encapsulate a layer of service and provide it as a platform. The users can build higher-level services using the applications from platforms.
  3. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): With Cloud Computing, companies can offer applications on the internet as a service and on demand. A single instance of the software runs on the cloud and can serve multiple users or organisations.

Advantages

Gartner stresses that Cloud computing is emerging at the convergence of three major trends service orientation, virtualization and standardization of computing through Internet. Here are some advantages of Cloud computing:

  • Scalability
  • Cost saving
  • Business agility
  • Disaster recovery
  • Built-in backup
  • Device independence
  • Security
  • Location independence
  • Maintenance

Disadvantages

Cloud Computing has numerous advantages such as continuous data access, virtual storage, pay-by-use model, scalability and so on.

However, here are some of the challenges of Cloud Computing:

  1. Security of the data stored on the internet
  2. Reliability on external sources and third party hosts for data supply
  3. Dependency on internet and connectivity
  4. Difficulty in managing multiple platforms or multiple clouds which enterprises require
  5. Slow connectivity for web-based applications

Cloud Computing is often confused with Grid Computing, Utility Computing and Autonomic Computing. The challenges and developments in the topic make it interesting and essential for research.

Products

IBM, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, HP, VMWare are some of the largest vendors of clouds. Here are some of the examples of cloud computing.

  1. Web mail: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft
  2. Online storage services: Humyo, ZumoDrive, Microsoft’s SkyDrive, S3 from Amazon
  3. Online collaboration tools: Google Wave, Spicebird, Mikogo, Stixy, Vyew
  4. Online suites: Google suite, Ajax13, ThinkFree and Microsoft’s Office Live.
  5. Virtual computing platforms: Amazon’s EC2, Open source platforms such as AbiCloud, Elastichosts and NASA’s Nebula

ZDNet has analyzed common myths of cloud computing to bust the common misconceptions in that area. Cloud computing is here to stay and will bring in major developments in IT services.

AHA endorses Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort – Go video games for healthy hearts

Coming summer the American Heart Association (AHA) is going to embed its logo on Wii. The American Heart Association endorsed the Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort packages. Let’s look at the reason behind this endorsement while exploring the features and benefits of Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort.


Physical Activity

The amount of physical activity your family is involved depends up on the life style. Apart from daily chores at home and at work, every individual requires certain physical activity to stay fit and healthy. Even children in modern times are adopting sedentary life style.

Engaging in outdoor sports depends on the infrastructure facilities available in your community. Further, weather plays a crucial role to play outdoor games. Areas with continental climate conditions limit the chance of outdoor sports or any other outdoor physical activity.

Other alternative gym, proves to be costly and sometimes upsetting the normal body condition of a person. The lack of physical activity, sedentary lifestyle and improper diet increases the chances of heart attack even at a much younger age!

Video games

Video games are condemned originally for their tendency to promote laziness in children and young adults. At an average, modern kid spends around ten hours of their free time with electronic gadgets. These include TV, laptop, ipad, iphone, Nintendo, Video games, listening to music and so on.  Thus limiting their ability to communicate face-to-face and personally.


Wii

When Wii was introduced in 2006, its competitors were Microsoft’s XBox and Sony’s Play Station 3. Nintendo’s Wii revolutionized video games by increasing the physical activity through the games. The video game has a console along with a Nunchuck and Remote. Within your living room, you can play tennis, base ball, boxing, bowling and golf. Wii Sports comprises these five games.

The next version of Wii Sports is Wii Fit, which has a Balance Board along with the console, Nunchuck and  Remote. It comprises forty games in four categories. The main areas are yoga, balance games, aerobics and strength training. The software in the game allows an individual to record the Body Mass Index (BMI) based on the person’s details.

Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports

Wii Fit Plus is an advance version of Wii Fit. It has additional games along with calorie tracker, personlized training routine, creating profiles for children and pets. In addition, certain games have been added in Training Plus. You cn check your body status and balance every day, weekly or after a pre-determined time.

Wii Sports Resort has more games such as Swordplay, Wakeboarding, Frisbee, Archery, Basketball, Table Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Power Cruising, Canoeing, Cycling and Air Sports.

Active-Play and Fun

Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort have games which encourage active-play instead of sitting at one place and playing with buttons. You have to physically move and involve to play these games and get better. That is the reason The AHA has endorsed these products. You can play alone or play in groups with friends and family taking turns. Its always a competition in sports as to who is performing better in any given sport.

My personal favorites are yoga, aerobics and free run. I am the best in my family in hula hooping. While my son is good at Snow ball fight that improves planning ahead, my husband’s best is Lotus Focus, a game that improves your concentration! Its time for my Wii Fit Plus and personal  training session to reach my weight loss target. 🙂

What’s with kids and gifts? How to encourage good behavior?

Kid with a gift

 

A guest offers a gift bag to your kid. The kid takes it. He may or may not offer a thank you. You have to remind him to say it. Next, the kid tears open the gift right in front of the guest. You and the guest are shocked. Next, the kid says to the guest he already has it and he does not like it. Now, the guest and you are embarrassed and totally clue less what to do.

Kids think it is alright to behave and say what they want. To some extent, parents do encourage kids to be independent and not to be afraid in any circumstances. But, parents need to explain the difference between being independent and being rude. The basic manners of being courteous, kind and nice to others must not be forgotten while emphasizing independence.

Every kid is different and may need different disciplining style.  Here are some tips and best practices to encourage good behavior when presented with gifts:

  • Reminding the rules of receiving guests. Saying ‘Hello’, ‘How are you’
  • Responding to the guests questions. Saying ‘Thank you’, ‘I’m fine’
  • Looking in to the guests face directly while they are talking
  • Waiting until the conversation is complete
  • Listening actively to the conversation
  • Taking permission from the parents or guests
  • Saying ‘Thank you’ for the gift
  • Being polite and attentive all the time

The kids have to be taught that the gift has to be opened only after the guest leaves or only after coming home. They can express their view about the gift but not in front of the guest. Parents must emphasize that the guest has spend lot of money and time to buy the gift and the guest has shown lot of love and affection by buying the gift.

If the kid does not like the gift, it is better to say, ‘Thank you’ and ‘It is good that you thought of me’. This way the kid will  not be lying and at the same time not hurting the guest. It is important to show the kids to maintain smooth tone and polite language along with the body language. If the kid makes any rude comment, parents have to immediately ask to rephrase the statement with a polite comment.

The same rules hold good with respect to return gifts too. Rude behavior can be stopped by increasing the awareness, modeling and practice. It is also important to maintain positive reinforcement for good behavior and negative reinforcement for rude behavior.

Movie Review – Rama Rama Krishna Krishna

Rama Rama Krishna KrishnaRating 2.5/5

It is a funny movie and some times boring. Surprise star cast include Arjun and Gracy Singh of Munna Bhai. Comedy by Brahmanandam and Ram is quite good. The violence and obscenity in some of the scenes are not suggested for children. This movie is a classic example of Tollywood films surpassing the average Hollywood movies in violent and obscenity.


The dance moves by Ram are good though you may feel that you have seen them already. The costumes and the village theme of the movie is consistent even in the songs. The multi-colored shirts which you saw in old telugu movies can be seen in couple of songs.

The heroines (I don’t even know their names) are just for glamor though they are well knit into the story line. The story is shown partly in Mumbai for the fighting and action sequences. The scenes of Godavari river and Bhadrachalam temple are worth seeing.

The routine story with comedy and the Rama Krishna locket sentiment is good to watch for once. Its worth watching online. If you watch in theater, you may feel like walking away in between. 🙂

Hosting a party with Evite – Pros and Cons

The most daunting task of hosting a party is managing the invitations. Planning for the food, drinks and all other arrangements depend on the number of people attending the party. I have been receiving a lot of Evite invitations and was wondering how it all works out. Recently, I hosted my son’s birthday party using Evite and here are my observations.

Create an Account

First and foremost, you need an account to get started with. You can create an account at Evite. Once you fill out the registration form and Submit, Evite will send you an email to your registered id. You have to follow the steps listed in the email to complete the registration. You will also receive your login details in the first email, which you may want to save for future use.

Filling up the registration form and completing the registration is familiar and similar to any other account creation process.

Choose a Design

The next step is to login and choose a design and theme for your party. The designs available are not many. You cannot customize the designs. They have limited options in the design. You have to select the best one that suits your need.

I have changed the image of the theme later to make it more personal!

Enter Details

After you choose a design, you have to enter all the details about the event such as location, time, host name, party title and a personal message to the guests. Evite automatically includes a map of the location with the invite.

There are multiple options available such as including the end time, asking the guests to bring something, adding music to the invitation, making the invitation recurring, polling the guests or asking suggestions from guests and so on.

Add Guests

To add guests, add the email addresses of your contacts separated by comas. For the first time, you have to enter manually the email addresses from your contacts on other emails. For the subsequent events, you can copy the addresses from the contact list.

You can check the other options such as to indicate the number of kids attending or notifying when a guest replies and so on. You can customize the reply options suited to the party instead of the standard Yes, No or Maybe.

Send the Invite

Before sending the invite, you can customize the message for the guests and preview the message. You can save the draft to continue at your own convenience. Once you send the invite, you will receive an email from the Evite confirming the message.

Pros and Cons

While Evite facilitates the process of inviting the guests, it sends multiple emails which may be irritating for the guests and you too. You can view the invite and view the responses from the guests. You may continue planning the arrangements based on the responses.

You will know whether the guests have viewed your invite or not.  But, sometimes you may be stuck with the guests who have not viewed at all or who have viewed but not responded. You may have to make some phone calls depending on the responses.

You can send a reminder message to the guests who have not responded. Once the event is done, you can upload your event pictures and ask the guests to upload the pictures which they have taken at the party. You have to download an application to upload or download images to or from Evite.

Evite does not work well with Google Chrome. Some of the features such as uploading your own image or uploading the party pictures work only in Internet Explorer.

So, next time you plan an event you may try Evite for its cool features. Its a simple tool for our tech-savvy friends. 🙂

How to get driving licence – Tips to alien dependents in Quad cities, IL

Step 3: Road test

Once you are comfortable and are bored of driving practice you can go for the test. If you want to gain more confidence, you can ask your family friend or other experienced driver to rate your driving skills and ask for suggestions. This is useful as you may be blinded by your spouse’s positive as well negative comments.

Check Points

Stopping at the signals and Stop signs, Indicators, Lane change rules, Left and right turn, Backing up from a parking lot, Parking are some of the basic skills tested. The other resources and rules of Illinois can be found at Rules of the Road.

You will be tested to start the vehicle, back the vehicle, turn about, park uphill, start uphill, park downhill, start downhill, control the vehicle and so on. 

Acceptable Documents

Along with the passport, I-94, letter with your name and address printed, it is mandatory to have the letter from SSN office. Also, insurance card of the vehicle is mandatory.

  • The validity of the proof of address, that is, a letter with your name and address printed is only one month.
  • The letter from SSN office is valid for only three months or 90 days.

So, check the validity before you decide to go for road test.

Car Condition

The car you are taking for the test must be in good driving condition. Make sure all the indicators, lights, wipers and other controls are working. The tyres and seats must be clean and in good condition.

Clean the car windows, rear-view mirror, side-mirrors, rear window shield with clean cloth. Keep the dash board and the cup holder clean and cluster free.

Day of the test

I started early and drove to Rockford along with my spouse and kid. The journey was smooth though the kid got bored in the backseat. After reaching the office, here is what happened.

  • As it was a week day, the office was not crowded and I was led directly to the counter
  • The officer checked my documents and learner’s permit and insurance card of the vehicle
  • After checking the documents, they asked me to wait until the officer arrives
  • The officer was a white American. He appeared friendly and was soft spoken
  • He instructed me to sit in the car and turn on the signals and break
  • He checked the left signal, right signal and then the break light
  • After he was seated, I  asked him to adjust the seat height and leg distance
  • He instructed me to take the car through the parking lot to a small road at the back of the DMV office
  • He observed whether I stopped correctly at the STOP signal and traffic signals
  • The officer checked whether I was scanning the road, whether I was using the indicators properly and how I started from a STOP signal
  • The officer asked me to take right and left turns in a small residential road with maximum speed limit if 30 mph
  • At a downhill, I was asked to park the vehicle and immediately asked to get to the main road. Remember to switch on the parking light, when you park the vehicle at the downhill or uphill
  • I was asked to take a three-point turn at an intersection
  • And finally after multiple left and right turns we came back to the DMV office
  • The officer suggested that I could park anywhere I like
  • I waited for ongoing pedestrians and then parked opposite the DMV office
  • I was really scared now as the car was in a cross position and was not parked straight
  • Then, the officer turned to me, smiled and said that I ‘passed the test’

Finally, the officer instructed me to wait in the office. After a while, the counter officer called   y name to take a picture. They took the picture and a minute later handed me my licence.

I was happy to see  my face on the card in the outlined by the border of Illinois state. My spouse and kid were happy. My spouse was happy that all his training was fruitful and I had successfully completed the test. My son for having passing the test and he could go to karate classes. 🙂

What was surprising is the test is far easier than actual driving on the road. I wonder what would happen if the officer tested me on a highway or in the downtown.

How to get driving licence – Tips to alien dependents in Quad cities, IL

Step 2: Practice, Practice, Practice

When it comes to the road test, you really need two months of on the road driving experience to gain enough confidence and expertise. The basic requirement is fifty hours of training including ten hours in the night.

Key Rule

The important rule is to drive. Get your spouse in to the passenger seat and take charge of the driving. Of Course, your spouse is going to be your driving coach.

It is better to think all the scoldings and screamings from the spouse as the suggestions of the coach, instead of getting irritated (which we all do daily :)).

Your spouse is an experienced driver (Probably got a couple of tickets already :)) and is going to guide you perfectly than any other private trainer.

Car controls

Get acquainted with the basic controls of the car, which my seven-year-old already knows well.

Some of the first actions once you are seated. Starting the engine, wearing a seat belt, adjusting the rear-view and side mirrors, checking everyone is buckled up, see the gas level, music level and temperature level in the car, and so on.

Adjusting the seat height and distance from the accelerator and breaks is must every time for me. My physical measurements are different than my spouse so I have to make the adjustments every time. My car has this cool feature of setting the seat positions and with a press of a button your seat is back to your required level. Voila!!

Practice on Road

Back to the road practice, I made this mandatory that whenever we get out to a store or a friend’s place, I would drive with my husband’s guidance. Once you get a learner’s permit, you can drive with an experienced driver in the passenger seat.

Instead of spending separate time for practicing driving, it is better to drive whenever you go out. Of Course, this is risky but you have to take the chance to drive more. That’s the only opportunity to get more driving experience.

Next step is to take the road test.

How to get driving licence – Tips to alien dependents in Quad cities, IL

Taking your kid to the library or getting an urgent grocery from Walmart can be a challenge if you cannot drive in US. You are practically crippled if you cannot drive. I got my Temporary Visitor Driving Licence (TVDL) recently.

All these days, I was hoping to get a valid identification document once I receive a Driving licence, but  was surprised to learn that alien dependents who do not possess an SSN get a TVDL, not a DL. The TVDL is not a valid identification document, it says.

Anyways, here are some tips I followed:

Step 1: Computer test

Take the computer test after you have gone through the driving manual of Illinois. Reading the entire book once or twice will help.

You may not memorize all the rules, but it is better to remember the basic rules and signals. Passing the computer test is easier than the road test and may require one week study.

It is a must to acquire a letter from SSN office before going to the Rockford DMV office. The other documents required can be found at Acceptable Documents.

Being a Saturday, the office was busy and crowded when I took the computer test.

  1. You will be required to take a token number on entering.
  2. Once your number is called, you need to submit your required documents at the counter.
  3. The people are courteous to speak slow enough that we can understand them. So I wasn’t scared.
  4. An eye exam will be performed at the counter to screen your vision. It is similar to the one which do at the doctor’s office.
  5. After verifying the documents, you will be asked to wait to take the computer test.
  6. Once the queue is cleared, you will be asked to start the test.
  7. If you are familiar with computers and English, the test environment is comfortable.
  8. The questions appear one after the other. All are multiple choice or fill in the blanks. You will have to select an answer from the given options.
  9. If you are unsure of an answer, you can skip that question, which will appear later.
  10. Sometimes the questions are linked and are leading answers to other questions.
  11. Once you are done with all the questions (35/100), the results appear.
  12. You need not answer all the questions correctly, if you get minimum correct, you are through.

The officers will give you a Learner’s Permit after you pass the computer test. You can drive a vehicle under the supervision of a licence holder. The validity of the permit is one year. Now, you can practice driving the vehicle.

Read my subsequent posts about the remaining two steps.

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