PSUSAVER - Savings and growth

 like to write about water on a regular basis on this blog. The moon has a strong influence on water (tides) and there are several  about this (India, China, World, America, modern-with-ancient).

We also know that Kobe Bryant has announced his retirement recently. If the NBA has several stars and Kobe is a real, real bright star, I will still say confidently that Michael Jordan is the moon that outshines the stars (Opinion). His Airness apparently helped Kobe figure out the retirement decision. So what better way to honor this whole chatter and awesomeness in sport than by reposting some trending images that show the expanse of his career going through a basketball net? I present to you the Full Moon Basketball series. 

So, all is good so far and you get to see some cool pictures, so what is the "copyright" thing from the title? If you are still here, please follow along and allow me to share some google reverse image search and the results (after the gallery).​

I was approached by a reporter by email asking for the original source of the image. Although I had mistaken thought it was shot by my friend in India, it turns it was a forward on Whatsapp. 

Anyhow, since I have a weird hobby of trying to find out sources using various search tools, I got into hyper search mode. Note that I claim to be "learning image processing" [but have nt made much headway truly apart from sizing some ash particle pictures - sorry I digressed] -and based on the strength of that claim, I did a reverse search and used "Search Tools" to narrow down the time period to when it was first posted on the internet according to google's cache.

This image may lurk in other corners of the internet prior to the "best guesstimate" date of June 21, 2013 - when it was FIRST seen on a Ukranian or Russian website [http://zonacity.com.ua/index.php?newsid=3345].

So is this person the copyright holder? I don't know. They could have gotten it from somewhere else and then uploaded, but if anyone knows a better technique, please comment below or tweet me at @narienergy.

Please note that the only tool that I used was Google Images, simply because they happen to be one of the largest repository of easily searchable images on the web (or at least cache thereof). 
 

 A simple method to find specific housing accommodation on CL by location
1.  Locate your work address is on google maps. Adjust the map to zoom level and centering so that some prominent landmark (intersection) is at the Top right corner.

Open a new window and resize windows so you can view the previous map in one of the windows. Bring up craigslist in the new window and locate the specific housing section you want to view (Apartments, room mates, houses, temporary etc).  See image below that shows this.
E.g.  https://pennstate.craigslist.org/sub/#map 

Click on the numbers listed . They indicate the number of postings at that location in that zoom level on the maps. Clicking on the number shows you the posting headlines, and clicking the headline shows you the actual post and a link to the full posting. From there on you basically pull up the actual listings and email the folks asking for details, time etc.

Posted originally at: http://naridon2000.blogspot.com/2014/06/locate-rentals-on-craigslist-using-map.html 

In the past month, I had left positive reviews at Perkins (restaurant, Nittany Mall area) and Enterprise (car rental, Frederick MD) at corporate levels after receiving good service. The feedback from both places after receiving positive comments is tremendous and genuinely appreciative. 

I started actively doing this (where deserved) after I remembered that employees who work at businesses that deal with lot of people may not get proper positive feedback and may be inundated with more complaints in general, but have to still up put with it and smile. This is not a specific plug for either brand but more specifically for the people who work there and who treat you with respect and take pride in their work. 
So how did I end up in Frederick? My car broke down coming back from DC a week ago on a Sat night and I had to stay in Frederick till any car rental place or repair shop could open.

When my car broke down, I had to wait for 20-30 mins after calling my insurance company's roadside assistance service and after a couple of extra phone calls the towing company man Casey (from Vinny's Towing in Frederick MD) came out to help me. He works two jobs and was working on a weekend, but the pleasant manner in which he greeted me and helped with the situation made a lot of difference. Of course, it helped that I had the car all set up to be towed and had the right emergency hazard lights placed around it at that time.

 In return, after hitching up my car, when we drove back to Frederick, he made good conversation and we manage to learn a little bit about each other (although I could follow his regional accent well enough!). When I got down at the motel lot, I ended up tipping him, which I consider to be somewhat unusual as my Insurance company pays his company. However, my tip was more of a "hey, have a drink on me in your free time" kind of tip. Granted, people in all these cases are being paid, but conveying appreciation in one form or another is a very good positive reinforcement for great future work.  #beappreciative #bepositive.

Contact us by email psusaver@gmail.com to discuss your options to get to JFK airport or Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, DC airports from State College at competitive prices. 

When emailing us please include: # of passengers (# adults and # children below 12 list separately), # of bags, your flight arrival or departure time and any other special comments.

The headline is the usual one you see about Silicon valley successes. Dorm to Megacorp!

But they key fact that is overlooked is that they consistently have worked hard and delivered a good product to their customers, built up a large base and continually improved their product based on feedback and other original plans. *2006-2014 - Superb work! Congrats!

* looked up wiki for actual dates.

Source: http://onwardstate.com/2014/04/23/weebly-penn-stater-founded-startup-valued-at-455-million/
Wikipedia.org

There are several cool tricks listed in this new edition of the Smarter Travel post.

One of the best tips is something we still have on our list but have not been able to make it happen yet.. traveling to PR or USVI!
Don't Stress About Not Having a Passport

Longing for a long-distance getaway but don't have a passport? You can still jet off to a faraway island overseas. Consider Puerto Rico, officially an unincorporated territory of the United States; the U.S. Virgin Islands, mere minutes from Puerto Rico by plane; Northern Mariana Islands, a collection of Micronesian islands governed by the United States since the Battle of Saipan in 1944; Guam, which is home to a heavy U.S. military presence; and American Samoa, a collection of five volcanic islands and two atolls between Fiji and the Cook Islands.

Adapted from the story Five Exotic Places You Can Go Without a U.S. Passport by Dara Continenza. Follow Dara on Google+.

A poked around the Megabus and Greyhound sites to get some regular arrival information on their services from NYC to State College. (For Megabus I also looked at the buses coming from Pittsburgh and Philly). All information was accurate when I checked it, per regular schedules. Changes may occur, so consult Megabus or Greyhound websites for accurate information on date of travel. Download PDF (opens new window)

The culmination of over 3000 miles of driving with lot of adventures, kindness of strangers, wonderful meetings, new friendships, helping other people and cultural experiences along the way, finally ended at the Pacific coast. I reached Monterrey CA at 10 pm but the next day I went to China Beach in San Francisco to do a video shoot at twilight.
Highlights of the trip:

A shot of the Atlantic at South Beach in Staten Island. It was a nice warm day (for a winter day- on Dec 21, definitely!) so I was able to wade into the water and collect four bottles of water from the Atlantic ocean that I was planning to transport to the Pacific ocean and mix it there. This act of carrying the water and mixing it was in memory of my four grandparents (who are all no longer with us).

Depending on how you view life, you start seeing synchronicity easily. A few days after I had planned this trip, I got an invitation to a sound and dance performance to be hosted at my friend Kate & Bill's house in Spring Mills PA. The artist that was performing on a full moon day (*likely) goes by the name Vox Lumina (web). The trip had more than its share of water - Constant rain from NYC to Toledo OH, post-rain floods and diversions from Toledo to Indianapolis. From then on to St. Louis, it was a little dry but again from Nixa Missouri to Oklahoma City and beyond, I encountered a regular dose of snow or freezing rain. It was only between the far western reaches of OK and all the way to central California, I went through a dry zone. Through central California all the way to Monterey, I encountered a lot of fog. Through all these watery adventures, I listened to a lot of music - Rim Jhim (1942-A Love Story), Monsoon songs (Saawan) and Vox Lumina's newest CD - kept me good company!

On Saturday, I drove from Staten Island to State College in my Lancer, then switched to a Subaru Forester. From NY to State College, I had two (and 1/2) patient travelers in my Mitsubishi Lancer who were going home for the holidays. One of them helped me film portions of trip with my camera, while I was driving. Thank you Ali, Laura and (cat).

I have to add an interesting tidbit here though. In spite of the trip's main focus being on water, the longest stop I took was in New Mexico, which seems to be one of the driest places I have ever come across in my life! This was also the place where I was literally spooked by a HUGE tumbleweed that rolled across my car on the I-40 and slammed into it while I was moving at ~60 mph. Made me pull over shaking in fear (about damage to the car), only to find out that there was smallest of scratches and nothing else! (Check out this Tumbleweed invasion video)

I am planning of driving all the way across US (starting from the coast of New Jersey, then make a stop at Penn State and continue on to the California coast) during the 2013 holiday break!

The Goal
What initially started off as a humorous attempt at connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific ocean (apart from the Panama canal), soon turned into a deeply thoughtful moment for me. In India, water is revered and used in many ceremonies, especially ones invoking the ancestors. I realized that I had not done anything to celebrate the memory of my grandparents after they passed away in recent years. 

Atlantic to Pacific - Dedicated to the memory of my Grandparents is a trip that will have me collecting water from the Atlantic coast of the United States (near NY/NJ) and then transporting it across the lower 48 states to the Pacific coast in California (near Monterey bay).


Route
Planned route map http://goo.gl/maps/SRIzZ

I am hoping to go along a less snowy route for this time of the year, which I am hoping is the route below!

Costs
One of the things which I would post shortly is the multiple options- all running within a hundred miles of each other, but of varying durations and gasoline costs (for a standard sedan). The approximate cost for gasoline alone works out to about $ 400 based on a $3.50/ga cost and a rough distance of 2790-2850 miles. 

Depending on the season (esp in winter), there are some seasonal restrictions which make this route (through New Mexico) more appealing than a route through Utah/SLC.

I also plan to post more maps/routing using Mapquest - which has a much better quality product, but lesser known than google maps. 

What do you guys think about this plan (mixing the oceans), is it crazy, funny, routine? Let me know by commenting below or commenting on facebook!