The future of blogging

In an absorbing interview with Businessweek Meena Trott of Six Apart dicusses the future of the blogging revolution. According to her the future of blogging beholds:

• Multimedia intergration
• Mobile blogging
• Customisable interfaces
• Inergration of news media and blog media

Lets wait and watch.

The great escape - 2

We started on our journey to Gatlinburg at 5:00 in the evening. After driving for an hour on the Interstate we reached Maggie Valley NC. That was when we started noticing the amount of snowfall in the area. The mountains were all mist covered and all the treetops were white. It was abundantly clear that the Smokies had recieved a large amount of snowfall.

Something caught our attention and we pulled over to investigate. We noticed a gathering of people shouting and screaming and decided to take a look. What we saw was terribly exciting and both of us wanted to try it out. We saw a steep snow covered slope and people gathered at the top with rubber rafts, the kind used for adventure watersports. The were lying on those rafts and were sliding downhill at amazing speeds. I call it Snow Rafting. We hurriedly made our way to the ticket counter and enquired about availability. To our dismay we learnt that all the tickets for the day had been sold out. So we decided to stick around and watch people snow raft for a while.

The next leg of our journey was to take us through Cherokee Indian country. We immediately started noticing how cold it was outside. The temperature was a good 4 degrees below freezing. As we went uphill it progressively became colder and more hazardous to drive. There were mounds of snow on either side of the road. At best we could do 40 miles an hour. My head started aching from the strain of driving so carefully. We took a pit stop at a Cherokee handicrafts store. Out of curiosity we decided to investigate what was on sale. I usually collect shot glasses from places I visit. There were no shotglasses here and I decided that a little American Indian souvenier wood look good in a showcase. Thats when I decided to buy Pocahontas, the Cherokee Indian baby. Heres a picture of her.

The last 35 miles of the onward journey to Gatlinburg were scary to say the least. We were travelling at high altitudes on a narrow two lane road with snow and ice on both sides. The road was slushy and had a wet mixture of snow and mud. I was constantly on the lookout for Black Ice. Black Ice is frozen rain or mist that forms on an tar road. The ice doesnt have any trapped air bubbles and so is invisible to the eye. It is very hazardous to driving and can make a vehicle spin out of control. And I didnt want to spin out of control at those altitudes. We stopped once on the way to enjoy the panorama of mist covered snow laden mountains. We saw a lot of people making snowmen and having a ball of a time.

We reached Gatlinburg at 6:30 and decided that we start back immediately as there was heavy snowfall expected at night and we didnt want to risk getting stuck here. We parked and rushed to the closest McDonalds and gulped down Macs with coffee. All we could do is take a few street pics of this ever lively town.

We started sharp at 7:00 and after topping the tank started on our way back. I started noticing that ours was the only car moving out of town and there were a few cars which were making their way into town. I was soon to find out why. By the time we had done 15 out of the 35 miles to Cherokee it suddenly became very misty. Visibility dropped to an alarming 10 feet. The only thing that kept us from falling into a ravine was the yellow center line on the road. We proceeded cautiously at 20 miles an hour. It was then that we started to hear this pitter patter on the car roof and saw huge snowflakes falling on the windshield. I have never seen live snowfall so I pulled the glass down and stretched my hands out hopeful to catch some of it. But mysteriously the flakes disappeared after striking my palms. Driving conditions got worse by the mile. It was only after we had descended to lower altitudes that visibility improved and the snowfall ceased. We reached Maggie Valley at 8:30. We then drove continuously for 6 hours before we reached Durham. After returning the car at 2:30 AM in the morning, the only thing left to do was crash into bed and go into a dead sleep. Whew!!! what a weekend.
I shot some videos on my digicam. They can be viewed HERE.

The great escape - 1

I had a teriffic weekend. As I had mentioned in my earlier post, I had gone on a road trip to Biltmore Estates (Asheville) and then on to Gatlinburg. The journey took me from Central NC to the mountaineous western boundary of the state and then on to Tennessee (damn! I always get the spelling wrong).
We(me and Surya) started at 5:00 in the morning. The first thing to do was get an economy sized car from Thrifty. The lady there gave us perhaps the best economy car they had. It was a Chrysler Cruiser. The Cruiser is a decent sized hunchback with amazing accessories. Perhaps the most useful thing it had in it was a roof mounted electronic compass and thermometer.
We started from Durham at about 6:30. Surya drove for the first hundred miles and then I drove for the next 120 miles to Asheville. This leg of the journey was eventless except for the 125$$ speeding ticket that Surya managed to get for speeding at 80mph in a 70mph zone. Damn luck!.
We arrived at Biltmore at about 11:00 and after purchasing 25$(off season) tickets we drove the three miles to the Biltmore House.

The Biltmore house looks like a 18th century castle. The huge grounds, the fountain (rather ordinary) and the sculpted gargoyles. You can either opt for a self guided tour of the 200+ room castle or take a audio tour. The temperature was below freezing and we were more than happy to enter the log fire heated castle.

We opted for the self guided tour (stingy of us) and joined throngs of people on a tour of the four storeyed castle. The castle is filled with artifacts and treasures from around the world (Mr Vanderbilt's Collection). Things of note are a 10,000 pounds four storeyed chandelier and the huge basement mechanical refrigerator. Also notable is the bowling alley which was one of the first in the US. I didnt think that the castle was as big a bang as was advertised. Attached to the castle is a cosy bakery and a stable restora. I had a brownie at the bakery and I declare it to be the best one I have ever tasted here. Go to Biltmore for the Brownie, if not for the castle.
Our next stop was the winery, which is one of the best in these parts. The mountains of western NC have warm days and cold nights which make them suitable for cultivating grapes.

I was very excited as this is the first time I was going to an actual winery. My tryst with alchohol usually ends in a burp :-). You take a self guided tour of the winery and familiriase yourself with the various steps of wine production.

I must admit that wine is a vast subject in itself. I never knew that there were several types of wine and prominent among them were Dry White Wine (Chardonnay and Riesling), Rose Wine, Red Wine(Cabaranet Sauvignon) and Sparkling Wine (Champagne). Also each of these wines go well with certain types of food items. For example red wine goes well with meat and the Riesling goes well with Indian food.

The best part of the trip to the winery is the wine tasting ritual. You (provided you carry valid ID) can taste upto 8 different varieties of wine. You are given a leaflet containing the names of the various wines produced at Biltmore and the oppurtunity to taste most of them. At the end of the process you fell rather flushed and tipsy.
By the time we were ready to proceed to Gatlinburg it was 4:30. We bid farewell to Biltmore and started on the final leg of our onward journey. The best was yet to come . . . .

Long Weekend

Got a long weekend finally; thanks to Abe and George. 20th of Feb is celebrated as President's Day in the US. This is the day when Americans honor all the men who ever sat on the HOT SEAT. Well now moving on to other things. Today it snowed in Durham for the first time this winter. But I was indoors all the time and by the time I was out all of it was gone. I havent been blogging frequently nowadays for a number of reasons; lack of computing infrastructure isnt one of them.
Am off to Ashville tomorrow to visit the Biltmore Estate. It is the largest private resedential estate in the US. Interestingly scenes from Forrest Gump, Last of the Mohicans and Hannibal were shot here. Here is a list of movies that have been filmed there. They also have a winery and conduct a guided tour explaining the wine production process. Lets see how things turn out. These road trips are always pretty hectic. When you plan a one day trip you have to start early (6:00) in the morning. Or else you will spend most of your productive time driving. All road trips I have made till now have been more than 300 miles one way.The longest has been as far as 600 miles one way. In most of them by the time I get back its past midnight.
Update - Am planning to make a quick hop to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The idea is to visit the Ripleys Believe it or not crypt which I had unfortunatelt missed the last time.

Whats up???

Just to keep folks updated on what I have been up to lately.

• Joined the RTP toastmasters club, which by the way conveniently convenes on EMC premises :-).
• Bought a Sharp Zaurus 5500 Linux PDA (204 Mhz Intel StrongARM processor). Its a complete Linux box that fits your palm.
• Went to DC over the weekend. Had a great time visiting the Smithsonians, the memorials and the other museums.
• Am contemplating joining the Raleigh-Durham photography club.
• Am also contemplating enrolling for a Financial Accounting course at UNC.

Pics follow.