Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Folks - see if you can help this person...

Vinay Chakravarthy, was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in November 2006. He's been through four rounds of chemotherapy which ended in March. Like all other blood cancer patients, he is in urgent need of a marrow/blood cell transplant.

Since Vinay is Indian, there is a greater likelihood of finding a match among the same population as we share similar genes (genetic markers). Hence, it is important that as many Indians (or South Asians) join the Bone Marrow Registry to maximize Vinay's chances of finding a suitable donor. Going through the National Bone Marrow Registry in this country is a great way for most people to find a match but its extremely difficult if you are South Asian. So please, come lend a helping hand and register your blood with the national registry in hopes of being a perfect match!

If you want to hear more about Vinay, please visit this website. It has a lot of information on Vinay's condition, the drives to find donors, the marrow donation process and also about people who have donated so far.

Request you to help in whatever way possible. You could either register yourself, ask your friends to do the same or simply spread the news. Even if you are not in the US, please forward the information to people you know in the US.

Thanks!!!

Monday, June 25, 2007

... lull ...

Shit happens!
To everybody!!!
Sometimes a lot of it at once...

Makes people go BANG...
BANG with themselves...

Then they cheer up.
Everybody does!
So will I...

Very Soon...

Friday, June 22, 2007

Updates...

Life has been busy, and a bit bad. That's what's keeping me away from the blog. But it is all over now, and for the good.

I thought I'd get a ticket on my preferred travel date easily, but i had to go through hell before i could finalize my tickets. The short of it is that i have reserved my tickets to Chicago, with a stopover at London, in British Airways on the date i wanted. Since i booked the tickets through my company travel agent, i got a cool 10% (around $100) discount on pretax ticket price. BA has also opened their student discount season, where the term discount is obsolete. The ticket prices dint change at all, but students are allowed carry an additional check-in baggage (3 instead of 2). This isn't any incentive for me, as i don't think i will be taking more than 2 check in bags. I'll write about the BA trip experience once the trip is over.

I still haven't heard from my leasing agent. I think I'll received information on my apartment choices only in early or mid July. Even though it is cutting too close, i think it is okay since I'll get an apartment for sure :) I have also submitted my GSB loan application. So that's another thing off my checklist.

Shopping hasn't been happening really, since I've been busy. But I'm not too worried as there is a lot of time to go. The Brazil visa is also still on the check list - i have all material ready, should just type in a covering letter and send the application ASAP. This is taking a long time. But the group in the Brazil trip is awesome and I'm so looking forward to this :)

Now, to the interesting part. I have complete 3 of the 4 pre-assignments. To finish the last one, i need to sign up for medical insurance (or so i think - just mentioning the name might be okay). I have to clarify things before finishing this. Just when i thought I'm done with these assignments, the career services team sent another bunch of assignments!!! I'm done with one of them - partly. It also required feedback from colleagues - and it is optional. I'm wondering if I've already loaded them with lot of stuff. Yet to take a decision on this.

We are supposed to receive the updated curriculum guide and I'm waiting to check it out. I really need to work on all the courses and be aware of what i am going to do. With the completely customizable curriculum, GSB could be a mad race and one can easily get lost. Of course, there are support teams to help u handle it - but I'm this kind who needs to be completely informed of what's gonna happen :)

I know this has been a "random things" kind of post. There's just too much happening and too many things in the mind :) In the middle of all the running around, deep in the heart, i love the mad rush :)