Devesh’s Gratitude Journal

What an awesome few days… PHEW!

Well - as most of you know, I was away in Melbourne over the weekend and only got back on Monday. So to catch up on my list - here are a few items I’ve been truly grateful for over the last few days:

• I’m really grateful for taking the chance and impulsively booking tickets to fly down to Melbourne. I still remember, a few days after I booked them, I actually went back on to the airline website to cancel them - just coz I didn’t feel like going anymore. Anyways, fortunately for me, they didn’t offer any refund if I cancelled so I ended up going. I had the most relaxing 3 days, since the longest time I could remember ever :) A very big thank you to the lovely couple - Rishi and Shalu who looked after me so well. Shalu was so excited that I came over as it was a surprise for her - she didn’t know about my arrival until I walked through the doorstep. She couldn’t stop cooking for me - all my favourite dishes, constantly. I can’t believe I actually had 4 meals a day for 3 days in a row :) Rishi, was a true mate’s mate - we had our long chats until the wee hours of the morning, reminiscing our old days and realising the stark truth that now we’ve known each other for over 15 years heheh.
• The best destination during my visit to Melbourne was a trip to the local Planetarium. Anyone who knows me well knows of my affinity towards the stars and astrophysics :) Infact - ideally, if I had a choice of a destination to take a girl out on a first date - I would take her to a planetarium :) I’ve always wanted to do that for years - unfortunately I’ve never met someone who would be open minded, fascinated by, and also enjoy conversing all night about the wonders of the time and space continuum LOL! We also spent a few hours at the Science centre, next to the Planetarium - brought back memories of when I was in school :) Last Sunday, therefore was truly a memorable day for me :)
• The trip made me reflect on the friends I have in my life - no matter what, they’ve stood by me in my best and my worst - always helping me see the right perspective in life, through decisions I’ve made. Even for all the wrong choices I made in my life, my friends have always stood their ground, looked after me, cared for me and gently help me get back on my feet. Thank you to each and everyone one of you, my friends. I cannot even express how grateful I am to have you known you in my life :)
• As I didn’t come in to work on Monday I feared the pile up of work on Tuesday. Mondays are the worst days - to check if all the reports have successfully finished running over the weekend and to fix the code for the ones that crash. On my flight back home, I started dreading the following Tuesday. When I walked in on Tuesday to work, I was pleasantly surprised to see my colleagues have helped me out and fixed the reports that crashed, emailing me the corrected changes etc. It’s Wednesday today and I’ve finished all of my tasks for the week :)
• I walked in home from work last night and noticed that my flatmate was busy packing his suitcase. Before I could even gather the words to ask, enthusiastically, he informed me that he was flying to the country side tomorrow for a week. I think he was inspired by my impulsive trip and ended up doing the same. This only means that I’ve got the apartment to myself for a week :) As mentioned in one of my earlier posts - I really miss living on my own sometimes and love to get back to an empty house. Well - now I’d be getting back to an empty house for straight 7 whole days :)
• And last, but not the least at all, the most important point that I’m grateful for - this is the point that pushed me to post this update in the first place - Just another day at work. I was cleaning up some code when I got a call from my mobile service provider, Optus. Firstly to inform me that my old account manager has moved on, and this new account manager, Rossana would be looking after me. Next thing she informs me that despite the fact that I’m currently in the middle of a contract with them for my N95 - due to loyalty and being a good customer - they’ve chosen me as a priority client to give me the new, upcoming Apple iPhone - soon after it’s released :) With all the hype around it, and most naturally me being your average geek-gadget enthusiast - I’ve been eyeing the iPhone since Apple made their announcement of its launch in Australia. The phone is being released on the 11th of July - all I have to do is wait for it to fall in my lap. I never really thought I’d ever be saying this… but “thank you” Optus :)

Oh boy - I’m so charged up with that last point already hahahah… Anyways, a few pics from the trip to Melbourne can be found here: http://flickr.com/deveshm :)