March 7, 2010 by Soma.

Manickkam Drama PracticeSunday, March 07, 2010; 5:00 to 6:00 PMTallahassee, FL 32317We began practicing for Manickkam Mattinaan (மாணிக்கம் மாட்டினான் )  comedy Tamil drama at home. We had about six kids.

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February 27, 2010 by Soma.

Mag Lab Open House

Saturday, Feb 27, 2010, 1:00 to 3:00 PM

Tallahassee, FL 32310

We all went to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Advanced Superconductivity Center during their Open House event. We saw the 900 MHz 21 T magnet, magetic levitation, colors of Manganese oxidation states, great horned owl and other fun stuff.

I spoke to couple of scientists about YBCO and other high temperature superconductivity research.

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January 30, 2010 by Soma.

Tallahassee Weather Fest
FSU Department of Meteorology and National Weather Service

Saturday, Jan 30, 2010, 10 AM to 5 PM
Tallahassee, FL 32306

We were there at the second Tallahassee Weather Fest organized by Florida State University Department of Meteorology and National Weather Service, a branch of NOAA.

We witnessed the weather balloon launch at 2 PM EDT and spoke to several exhibitors. We played with ubleck. We also went to the severe weather simulator and the fourth floor command center.

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January 23, 2010 by Soma.

Pongal Celebration

Saturday, January 23, 2010

ARH, Tallahassee, FL 32306

We celebrated Pongal Festival this evening.

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January 23, 2010 by Soma.

2010 Annual General Body Meeting

India Association of Tallahassee

Saturday, Jan 23, 2010, 2:00 - 3:30 PM

Leon Co Public Library

Tallahassee, FL 32306

The 2009-10 Annual General Body Meeting of the India Association of Tallahassee (IATLH) was held earlier today along with the Indian Republic Day Celebrations. About two dozen families attended the program.I officially became the President of IATLH for the calendar years 2010 and 2011. My team (four more people in addition to me) took over the official Executive Committee’s responsibility from the previous team. We pledged to work to make the Association more relevant to the members.A lively discussion of Association’s activities and events followed. Many people spoke about how to expand the membership.

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November 27, 2009 by Soma.

Azu Lucy Ho’s Restaurant

3220 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, FL 32311

We all three of us went to Azu (fire in Japanese) Lucy Ho’s Restaurant tonight for dinner. Today was opening night for the new restaurant run by Masa Nagashima. We ordered spring roll and Lo-mein, house salad, and iced-tea and sodas.

The food came quick. Since this was long Thanksgiving holiday time, even on a Friday night (6:30 PM) the place was not very crowded. May be there were about 30 people dining.

The waiter was pleasant and Masa was very gracious. We enjoyed the food and drinks. The price was decent.  Good luck to Masa!

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November 14, 2009 by Soma.

Cultural Glimpses of India5 PM at Chiles High School AuditoriumTallahassee, FL 32312Today is the day of the annual premier event of India Association of Tallahassee. We will have about 24 programs. There will be an intermission after about 16 items. Snacks will be sold.See you all there!

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November 1, 2009 by Soma.

Hinduism and personal view

Private Church Speaker

Sunday, November 1, 2009, 6 PM

I was invited to speak about what Hinduism means to me personally to a private church gathering of people who were interested in other religions of the world. We all (about 8 people) met at a private residence and spoke for about an hour.

I started the speech by playing a musical rendition of the Gujarati prayer song (favorite of Mahatma Gandhiji) “Vaishnava Jana Tho“ and spoke about my personal practices and views of Hinduism in general and how does it affects me here in the USA.

Later I concluded the speech with the Aavuyaiyar’s Invocation to God “கடவுள் வாழ்த்து - பாலும் தெளிதேனும்” . Following the song we had Q and A session for about 15 minutes. We ate some cookies and I departed home with a feeling that I was able to listen to people of other faith while telling about what I follow.

Thanks to the person who made this possible.

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July 27, 2009 by Soma.

International Space Station with Shuttle

Fly-by on night sky

Tallahassee, FL 32317; 9:53 PM

We were able to spot the International Space Station, with Space Shuttle (Endeavor) still attached to it, fly-by on the night sky just over Tallahassee and Florida. First we looked at a plane (obviously with red light and blinking lights) then we started to track a very bright object moving very fast and when we checked the web page it was the correct time.

It was really bright for about a minute tracking from North West toward South. Then as it flew above us and toward SE it quickly faded and was almost lost from our observation. When we looked at the sun’s light fading, it is likely that we were able to see the ISS as a bright object as it was still reflecting the bright sunlight.

We will try to track it again tomorrow, this time around 10:15 PM

To get the real-time position go to: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html [You need Java 6SE to see it; one can download it free from www.java.com]

To find out when it will fly-over your town go to: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html [Then select the country, state, and town]

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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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