Chicago Labor Day

On labor day, we went to Chicago to visit Shirin's cousin Abhijit and his familly. We flew there on Friday night and came back on the following Tuesday morning. They live in a nice apartment close to downtown Chicago. On Saturday morning, I went jogging from their place to Lake michigan and back. It took me about 50 minutes. We really loved our stay in Chicago. It is a beautiful city with a very nice downtown area. Nothing like Los Angeles. Chicago really does have the big city atmosphere. We spent some very good time with shirin's familly. We did a lot of visiting and walking in the city. They even have free trolley for tourists. The labor day week-end was really busy. The city was packed with people. There was a Jazz festival, a college football game at the Soldier Field Stadium, Chicago, IL - Home of the Chicago Bears Football Team.

We visited downtown, we took the L train, had lunch in Greek town, visited the Aquarium, the Zoo, Devon (Indiatown) and Michigan avenue for shopping.

We also wanted to see Deepak and Rushani - I heard later they were touring in Europe. I tried Misho, he was in DC looking for trouble.

A real dynamic city in the summer time - we hear the winters arent as nice, unless you enjoy the cold.

We had a great time, our host were wonderful. Thank you Abhijit, Angelie and Tera.

at the house:


Angelie, Tera and Shirin on the balcony


Abhijit, Tera and Erhan on the balcony - nice view from the balcony :-)


Buildings


more buildings


The famous bean


Same bean


Michigan avenue - Shopping area for Shirin


Erhan the romantic - Lake Michigan, downtown in the background


The Aquarium


View from the aquarium


On the boat to Navy Pier


Illinois

Heart Walk

With colleagues from St Jude Medical, we participated to the Hear Walk in Los Angeles, it was a 3 miles walk around the coliseum. We were also the top fundraiser in the company.

Team photo:


Shirin walking by the olympic swimming pool - used for 1984 olympic games.

Flamenco at home

Shirin has been practicing Flamenco for a few years now. She's still taking classes every week. So, once in a while I have a free flamenco show at home - Obviously pictures are not enough but she does not let me film her - Until I figure out how to pull a "hidden camera" here is some pix:

Boleria??


Sevillana?

Big Jash in LA

Big Jash (aka Kawa) was in town for the week-end. Jash has been working under cover in Irak for the last couple of years :-) He's doing some work for the minister of economy down there - basically trying to make some money!

It's always nice to see him, always feels like the last time - I tell that Jash to come back here for good, but the money is too good I guess.

Since he just got back from Irak, I thought he might be in top physical shape so I took for a bike ride up Mulholland drive in Hollywood.

Well, we didnt make it too far, after 5 miles he was done!



View from the top of Mulholland drive - Hollywood sign in the back:


Jash and I, Hollywood boulevard


Chinese theather on Hollywood


With Shirin


Jash and I used to play some fresbee in San Diego so we kept the tradition, we went to Tujunga Park and played some the next day:

he still got the 4 packs


check out the six packs...


Kawa is now on the East Coast, waiting to be deployed to Irak again.

Hollywood Bowl

Shirin's company had organized a little dinner/concert at the hollywood bowl. We went to see a classical music concert - a first for me! The bowl is a beautiful outside theather where you can bring your own wine and party.

The bowl behind us:


Another view:

Studio City, California

Here is our new home, we moved to Studio City, CA. Very nice little city in the san fernando valley - about 10-15 miles north of Los Angeles Downtown. We're about 20-25 minutes away from Santa Monica and very close to Hollywood. It's a reverse commute to drive north to work so no traffic.

Tujunga avenue - just in front of the appartment complex:


The complex entrance door:


Courtyard leading to our appartment:


Sorry no pictures from the inside, for that you'll have to come and visit us in LA.

Santa Barbara Long Distance Triathlon (En Francais)

Cela faisait bien longtemps que cette page n'avait pas ete mise a jour. Avec le demenagement sur Los Angeles, le nouveau boulot, une nouvelle ville, yavait pas mal de chose a faire. Mais bon voila, maintenant que nous sommes bien installe, il est temps de donner quelques nouvelles.

Fin Aout, c'etait le Triathlon de Santa Barbara, une superbe ville, un endroit de reve.

Preparation de la machine le soir d'avant:


Shirin a du aussi se lever at 4:30 du matin pour faire etre volontaire dans la tente a manger - faut donner a manger aux athtletes apres cette course eprouvante


7h du matin, les choses serieuses commencent avec une petite nage de 1 mile (1600m) dans l'ocean glace s'il vous plait:

Natation: 38 min - pas trop mal! un peu lent compare aux meilleur.

Apres s'etre echauffe un petit peu, on saute sur le velo pour 34 miles (environ 52km), la j'ai souffert car ca monte pas mal sur les cotes de Montecito.

Velo: 1:54, ca va - J'ai eu le temps d'apprecier le paysage au moins.

Apres tout ca, on chausse les basquettes et on se fait une petite course a pied de 10 miles (16 km) le long de la plage, pas mal du tout, qu'en je pense que les gens font bronzette et nous on se tue a courrir sous la chaleur.


Course a pied: 1:27 - la j'etais plus content de moi, je n'ai pas fini sur les rotules, j'etais encore frais, eh oui, j'ai appris qu'il ne faut pas rouler comme un fou, sinon pas de jambes pour courrir.

C'est fini:


Temps final: 4:06!

C'etait vraiment une superbe course - la plus belle que j'ai faite.

ciao, et a bientot...