My blah blah

Sound is created when air is disturbed or moved and this disturbance or movement travels in waves from its source to our ears. Sounds are all around us. Some sounds are disturbing and some are more pleasant to our ears. Musical sounds make a series of regular waves. Noise is like a mixture of lots of different sounds and it has no definite wavelength. A beautiful music can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. All musical instruments sound different from each other. The sound quality that allows telling these instruments apart is called timbre. Harmonious notes sound pleasant when played together .Musical instrument such as a flute produce beautiful sound. When the musician blows, the air enters the tube and causes the airs inside the flute vibrate and produce the Sound. Stringed instruments have wires stretched across them. If you pluck the wire, you hear a sound. By pulling the wire tighter you can change the pitch of the sound.

Lipstick is the sexiest cosmetic invented. Many of the early versions broke easily and were indelible. Earlier generations of women colored their lips with henna. Some women even applied cinnabar which was extremely poisonous. The first lipsticks manufactured were colored with carmine produced by a small red insect. The trouble with the earlier lipsticks was that they stained everything they came in contact with.
Today it comes in variety of colors and textures without the defects of the early versions. A perfect lipstick should produce the desired color and effect, be it matt, shiny, glossy, frosted, or pearlesent. It should also cover evenly, not feel greasy, and be long lasting and nearly indelible. Lips are quite a vulnerable part of the human body and dries out quite easily. Many kids of oils are used in lipstick including natural oils which provide a soft yielding salve for the lips. The color of a lipstick is provided by a pigment or a dye. The various ingredients are heated until fully blended and poured into moulds which are then chilled to produce lipstick. Pearlized lipsticks contain boron nitride which imparts shimmer and luster to the lips. Thanks to chemistry, lipstick is now an indispensible item of female attractiveness.

Few places on Earth are as awesome as the Victoria Falls. The people who once lived there named the falls –“the smoke that thunders”. Soaring 16000ft high, the misty plumes are visible from about 25 miles away. Nothing in the surrounding landscape hints at the drama to come. The river abruptly plunges in mid course and changes its character completely. The spectacle is truly astonishing. As the suns rays are refracted through drops of water in the air, brilliant rainbows are created. On a bright moonlit night the vapors create an unusual lunar rainbow. There are luxurious woodlands alongside the cliffs facing the falls that are green all year round.

Yesterday afternoon I was shopping for some clothes. I went to a variety of stores like Nordstorm , SoHo and many others. I saw a store called urban outfitters and entered it to find some pants. I regularly wear a size 4, so I grabbed some trousers in sizes 4 and 6 to try it out in the dressing room. Some of them I could manage past my knees, some I could manage till my waist with lot of tugging. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Could I have put extra pounds? Are my thighs becoming gigantic? Pretty sad I left the store empty handed. I just tried a few other stores with little luck. I realized later the clothing sizes in different stores lack any type of standardization. Never buy anything which is not your size at all. The designers have the deceptive practice of vanity sizing- adjusting clothes sizes downward, or putting smaller numbers on bigger size clothes. Women want to feel thin and the designers think this is the only way they can make them feel thinner. Another surprise to me was a pant which measured 36 inches wouldn’t fit my 36 inch hip. The clothes are typically designed to a model or mannequin with ideal body. If you come across a brand that fits you perfect chances are everything made by that company will fit you perfect.

Mutual Funds are one way of investing your money. A dictionary definition of Mutual fund is - A company organized for the purpose of making investment. A mutual fund gets the money from private individual investors. A few professionals called the money managers manage the job of investments. They are the one who decides about what stocks to buy and sell. As an investor in a mutual fund, we own a portion of the fund and share any increases or decreases in the fund along with all the other shareholders of the fund.
Investing in Mutual funds has several advantages.
Mutual funds are one way to balance out the risk because of diversification.
You don’t have to be an expert in investment. The money manager is generally trained to buy stocks which produce the best returns on the investment.
Since you invest the money with other investors you are putting your money into a big collection. The money manager is able to make a variety of investments.
We all should consider investing in mutual funds instead of direct purchases of stocks and bonds. There are both advantages and disadvantages with investing in mutual funds but they produce better results with less effort than stocks do.

Tooth Brightening was introduced in America in 1990’s. People were thrilled by the idea of having whiter brighter smile. Years of coffee and cigarette stain could be gone by getting the teeth bleached. Today Tooth Brightening is one of the most requested forms of cosmetic dentistry. Anyone can get their tooth bleached. The process of tooth brightening involves lightening the teeth that have darkened due to stains caused by years of coffee, cigarette and wine. There are many different methods by which the brightening could be done. One of the most common one could be purchased from a local drugstore. The bleaching strips contain peroxide which when used according to the instructions produces good results. Brightening can be done in the Dentist’s office also where the dentist coats the teeth with strong hydrogen peroxide gel and pass light on them to activate the process. The whitening lasts for about two years and the cost would range from $300 - $700.

Moisturizers work by delivering water to the skin and holding water that is already there. Moisturizers contain some combination of chemicals and other ingredients. One of the main ingredients in a moisturizer is called a Humectant (urea, lactic acid etc.) that suck water from the air and give it to the skin. Moisturizers can be water based or cream based. The greasier the moisturizer is the more they lock in the moisture. If you look around in your local store you might find several different brands like Keri, Cetaphil, Nivea, Neutrogena, Aveeno etc. Many have added vitamins, sunscreens and fragrances . My personal favorite is Aveeno. I love Aveeno because it does not have too many harmful ingredients. I am not thrilled about slathering urea all over me. Aveeno is non greasy oatmeal formula. You can find this moisturizer at any drug store. Find a moisturizer that fits your skin type. There are many expensive ones available in the market now. Expensive doesn’t always mean effective.
If you don’t want to use any of the moisturizers available in the stores, go natural. Drink plenty of water. Water flushes out waste materials and toxins through urination and perspiration. Water acts as an internal moisturizer and benefits your skin tremendously. Humidifiers can help replenish the moisture in your home or office.

As I mentioned, I am no big fan of standing in the lines early morning for getting a good deal. But like every human being, I am sucker for deals too. It is especially true when you can sit at work and watch the deals pop up in all the shopping websites on Cyber Monday. It has become my habit to finish my Holiday shopping for the season on Cyber Monday. I especially like the deal of the hour provided by the sites. This year I am becoming little bit proactive in my preparation. I will be making a list of all the gifts I need to buy. I will be doing some comparison in the deal comparison websites. Tons of website have popped up this year especially for Cyber Monday deals and like Black Friday deals, some of the information is leaking in the forums, if you know where to look for. I am going to present myself a Blue-Ray DVD Player for the holidays. I am wavering between getting a PS3 or a Blue-Ray DVD player. I will be making a list of pros and cons for both the options this Sunday and make a decision by the time of Sunday night football.

Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving as you might know is called as it is the day when the retailers are supposed to turn Black after running in Red all the year. In accounting terms that means, they turn to profit after running in loss the whole year. After watching Football and eating Turkey on Thanksgiving, I am in no state to get up and go shopping at 4 a.m. in the morning. So as part of my contribution to the society, I get up at 8 and watch the TV news keeping tabs about what is happening in the malls. This is what I figured out by watching at least 7 channels all day and various news casts. This holiday sales will be good as most of the stations covered about how great the deals are and how many people are streaming into the malls. Here is what I think about this year’s holiday season sales, I am pretty sure it will be good. The reasoning is Americans have started to tighten their purses and wallets for the last 3 months in order to prepare for holiday season. This was clearly visible in the monthly retail reports for anyone willing to notice. Now, we are ready to splurge for the holidays.

As I mentioned before in this blog, due to the nature of my commute in public transit, I am looking for ways to keep myself productive while in transit. I have seen many folks travelling with laptops and start working in the bus. Even though I have a laptop at home as my main PC, I do not like to carry it around as it contain most of my personal data and I do not want to lose it. I recently saw a couple of folks use a smaller form factor of laptop and after enquiry I found they are called netbooks/mobile devices. Based on my research I think they can suit me very well for my commute. Netbooks are very light around 2 to 2.5 lbs in weight; they have a screen size of 8-10 inch and mostly use Intel Atom processor. I looked at few of them in the local electronic shops and good ones are available for around 350-400$. I also figured out if I pick the ones with Linux loaded, they have less RAM and costs less. Now I am oscillating between picking one with Windows XP or the one with Linux loaded. As my main use is going to be just surfing the web, I am currently leaning towards the pre-loaded Linux netbook.