November 23, 2011 by Soma.

Used 2003 Lexus GS 300

Wednesday, Nov 23, 2011

4:30 PM | Leon County

We bought an used 2003 Lexus GS 300 this afternoon from a single owner. We needed an used car since my old trusted Toyota Avalon XLS has been showing its age. The engine and acceleation are good but the platic and rubber parts were wearing thin.

The couple drove the car to and fro for  short distances for several years and therefore the total mileage was very low. Since it was a single owner car we were happy to see that it was well kept (dealer maintained and repaired).

Since it was a private sale the price we paid was a good deal both for us and the seller. Since it was day before the Thanksgiving Holidays, only the TJMaxx complex Leon County Tax Office was open. So it took at least 45 minutes to process the paper work.

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November 19, 2010 by Soma.

Pot holes in Tallahassee

Friday, November 19, 2010; 8 PM

Over the last several years the road maintenance in the city of Tallahassee been going from good to bad. One of the problems is the difficult economic situation cities, counties, and states are facing. For example, during the early 2000s several new roads were paved, additional lanes were laid, and regular repairs were done routinely.

But during the last two years even well traveled roads in the Tallahassee started to show pot holes and they are getting bad to worse. My commute to work which is less than 10 miles has probably dozen pot holes, cracked man hole covers, uneven lanes and other problems.

I encountered one pot hole this evening that was big enough to give lots of problems. It was unavoidable as it was so close to the road and there were two one after another.

Hope the situation soon will improve and the money city spends on roads will help reduce money individuals spend on autos and bikes.

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June 26, 2010 by Soma.

ESI Trip to DC

Wed-Sat, Jun 23-27, 2010

The ESI people went on a trip to Washington DC and came back on Saturday. They said they have had a good trip learning about environmental issues in Maryland and DC.

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April 5, 2010 by Soma.

Watch Space Shuttle Launch at Titusville, FL

Monday, April 05, 2010; 2:30 to 7:30 AM

Orsino, FL

I watched the space shuttle Discovery launch as STS-131 at 6:25 AM from  Orsino, FL (Cape Canavarel, Florida, Kennedy Space Center, Astronaut Hall of Fame)

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September 6, 2009 by Soma.

Tallahassee Tamil Sangam Picnic

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park

Wakulla Springs, FL 32327

 With Manoharan family, Vasudevan family and our family organizing a Tamil Sangam Picnic at Wakulla Springs State Park, the turn-out was okay. Since we thought about it only a week ago,  it was the long Labor Day week-end, and a Sunday afternoon many people couldn’t make it.But those assembled set-up the picnic table in one of the covered canopy around Noon. The young ones immediately headed to the water at the Wakulla Springs itself. After swimming for about hour and half most of the people became hungry. We had our lunch.Then we started to play touch-football, volleyball, and finally the quint essential Indian sport, Cricket. Most of the kids participated in the games. Then it was to the waters again. The weather was in lower ninties and there were scatttered clouds but no rain. Finally around  5 PM we started to drive back home. It was a successful picnic.Photos from the picnic can be seen here:http://picasaweb.google.com/somabhanu/TTSPicnic2009#

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August 24, 2009 by Soma.

First day for Leon County Schools and Tallahassee Colleges

Monday, August 24, 2009

Tallahassee, FL

Today was one of the special days when all Leon County Schools (Elementary, Middle, and High) as well as FSU, FAMU, and TCC opened for classes for the Fall term. Usually the colleges open a week earlier than the schools but the simultaneous opening meant there were lot of students and parents on the road (in addition to the regular commuters) than most of the days.

This year’s streamlining of school bus schedule (one time for all High schools (7:30 AM), Middle schools (9:30 AM), and Elementary schools (8:30 AM) also contributed to higher density of vehicles on the road during the busy morning commute.

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July 11, 2009 by Soma.

STS-127 (Endeavour; Orbiter Vehicle 105 OV-105) Space Shuttle Lanuch PostponedSaturdary, July 11, 2009Cape Canaverel, FLWe were here at noon for the STS-127 Space Shuttle launch scheduled for 7:32 PM. But due to heavy thunder storms last night 7 lightnings struck the space shuttle’s launch pad’s vicinity. The NASA engineers and scientists decided to make sure everthing is OK before the shuttle was launched. So they postponed the launch by 24 hours. During that time they will check all the vital components to find out whether there are problems. If every thing works out fine, the shuttle will be launched on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 7:12 PM.

Sunday, July 12, 2009.

The preparations began for the launch. We went on a tour of the Kennedy Space Center. We also saw a movie at the IMAX Center. It is a hot summer day with high humidity. After the movie was over, we settled down at the Visitor’s Complex and waited for the launch. The giant TV showed the minute-minute by activities and an astronaut answered questions from the audience. Around 6:30 PM they announced that there is a possibility that the launch could be jeopardized due to the gather stroms to the North and East of KSC.Then at around 7:01 PM (T minus 9 minutes) they scrubbed the launch since the strom clouds with possibility of lightning was within the allowable 20 mile radius. We were all disappointed but considering there were 7 astronauts and important scientific equipment inside the shuttle we understood and left town.

Monday, July 13, 2009.

The bad luck continued even after we had left town. Due to bad weather, this time from the South side of the launch pad the clouds gathered, it has been reported, that NASA controller’s have to postpone the launch for another day. Since they had tried three days in a row they will give a day’s rest for every one and attempt a launch on Wednesday, July 15, 2009.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009.

Finally, the shuttle took off today.

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June 27, 2009 by Soma.

Environmental Science Summer Camp Tour

Miami, Key Biscayne, and Orlando

Thursday, June 25 to Saturday, June 27, 2009

Tallahassee, FL 32307

The members of the 2009 Environmental Summer Science Camp from the FAMU’s Environmental Science Institute have so far completed their  tour of Everglades State Park and NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center located in Key Biscayne (near Miami) and are headed toward the city of Orlando in central Florida. They are expected to be back in town tonight.

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June 21, 2009 by Soma.

Father’s Day trip to Wakulla SpringsSunday, June 21, 2009; 12:00 to 3:30 PMWakulla Springs, Wakulla, FLToday VTS, PKB, and I went out to Wakulla Springs State Park to enjoy the Wakulla Springs. The park is about 21 miles from Tallahassee, FL and takes about 40 minutes to drive. We picked up some swim goggles for VTS and headed to the park. It was a really a hot day. The water level in the spring has also receded a bit.We arrived after paying the entrance fee of $4 (four US dollars) around 12:50 PM and headed to the spring. There the two of them swam for about 1 1/2 hours and by 2:30 PM they were ready to head home.I also needed to pick my car after repair. We arrived home by 3:30 PM and headed to the repair shop. We have plans for dinner  tonight.

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December 26, 2008 by Soma.

4th Anniversary of Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004

Friday, December 26, 2008

In 2004 the seawater has come almost 1 kilometer inland (picture taken on 12/27/04 ~ 2 PM IST; almost  1day and 4 hours after the tsunami hit Vedaraniam)

This morning (in the United States, but it was four years ago the same time, in India) was just as cloudy and muggy here in Tallahassee as was in Vedaraniam on Sunday, December 26, 2004. Around 9:15 AM IST the skies went bit darker, house flies started to land in larger numbers (despite the fact it was middle of winter), the power went out suddenly (not a surprise) as we were having showers to get ready for our impending visit to Nattu Mada Mariamman Temple. Sweet pongal and regular lentil pongal were already prepared for the offering to the Godess.

All the siblings from our family had gathered on the day. We had abondanded the plan to visit to the beaches (What a God’s gift to our family!!) since during the previous weeks it had rained plenty and as Vedaraniam, Agasthiampalli, and Kodiakarai. And our soil swampy with lots of clay content made it unattractive for the kids and adults to the enjoy the beaches.

About 1/2 hour we heard in the TV News that there were some mild tremors in Chennai city. Just then we started to hear crowd noise on the streets and there was big commotion with people running on the streets shouting, “the sea is coming”, “the sea is coming (kadal varuthu, kadal varuthu). Thus started the day that will take several people in my town of Vedaraniam.I spent several minutes today thinking about how lucky we were and prayed for those who perished on that fateful day.

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