A little something different today! Face Off time :)

So we have this top-secret project (well, sort of!) going on at work... it is going to be an elegant photobook of all the teams and their members in our group. Its a huge project, with almost 200+ members to be included! Mammoth,eh? I'm sooo looking forward to the photo sessions of the teams, coz we have all these awesome ideas of getting the teams to jump in mid-air and pose with props, so its going to be fun fun fun!

One of the ideas my team mates had was to create funny caricatures of managers and have some fun at their expense! Teee heee...and we found this cool tool called Face Off Max.It is an amazing tool with loads of options, flexibility,good finishing options and most importantly,loads of templates to play around with.

Now tell me, who hasn't associated themselves with atleast one superhero? I know I have! So the main theme loved by all of us was to get our managers to look like superheroes via this tool. I downloaded the trial version of Face Off Max and created some examples of superheroes but with our team members' faces! It looked sooo cool.

A quick review of the tool -

• Start by creating a new project. Select the body picture which can be selected either from the many templates that the tool offers or you can upload your own image/template.

• Next,select the face. This is when I uploaded my team member's snap. This get automatically added to the face library that the tool maintains. This means that you can choose this snap later for another project.

• Next comes the face area cropping/selecting part. The tool provides a selection square which is an easy step.

• Next select the face area – a bit difficult. But the brush and eraser options are pretty easy to use to outline the face area and brush size option is available for precision.

• Next, size and place the face on the body image which we have selected. You can rotate/tilt the head. The direction in which the face is pointing can be changed too!

• Next,do the final trimming and fine placement of head/face over body. There are loads of controls available which sure makes life easier.

• After that there are 3 skin matching stages. This brings the face/body color to the same level of brightness, contrast as well as color gradient. This is, by all means, real good attention towards details on the part of the software.

• All these steps are in a form of wizard so you can always go back to the previous step in case at a later point you think that the earlier step(s) need to be redone. Of course you have undo/redo options for each stage too.

And, that’s it, you are through with an amazing result!

You can save this project as well, so you can edit the picture at any later point if you want. It will store all the changes/settings done.
All in all,Face Off Max is a great tool with amazing results and is extremely easy to use.

Details about the tool can be accessed here - http://www.faceoffmax.com/

I shall keep you all updated on the outcome of our secret (ahem ahem) project, till then, toodles!

Bus..bus...bus!!

That bus! Who knew that seemingly innocent looking bus that Josh put his hands on the very first day of nursery would become something his mommy disliked!But that's the truth....hear me out and then decide if I'm being overdramatic or just sane :) 

If you've read my previous post on Josh's experience on his first day of nursery, you'll know all about the "bus". From day one, Josh has not let go of the "bus"! Its in his hand the moment he steps into school (why, for some days, he was lured into school using that "bus") and now, he lets go of it only when the school bell rings! Sighhhh...double sigh! So, what's the problem,you say? Its like the teddy bear for some kids, for Josh its the bus, you say? I totally get that...I totally understand his need for a comforting factor in a crowd of strangers/kids/teachers/ayahs.The problem arises from the fact that he needs the bus in his view, near his leg or on the table during writing, during singing class, and I dare say, during snack time too! If anyone dares to take it from him, all hell breaks loose as he starts a crying session! The after-effects? Other kids want a bus too...teachers cannot conduct an orderly class. Latest update? 9 troublemakers have been singled out and kept in a separate class under the strict principal. I get to know this via telepathy! haha..no kidding! That's what the principal tells me, when I sms her asking for a brief meeting to know how Josh is doing at school. When she tells me about his bus infatuation, and her plans to gradually ease him into the main class, I remain skeptical.How is she going to get this to work? Have I done wrong not sending him to playgroup at 1.5 years like the others did?Patience is the key....more updates soon!

First day of school! (Friday,1st June, 2012, 9:30-10:15am)

So, I'm back at work after going through 45 minutes of my baby's (no longer a baby!) first day of nursery! It wasn't too bad, come to think of it.

So, I've been prepping him all week, saying today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday, your first day of school...etc etc and then yesterday night, put him to sleep with the promise that tomorrow morning, we'd all go to his school...Canterberry school...together! Appacha..ammachi, dadda and mumma! He was all excited, and kept remembering the last time he went there, and how a mausi there gave him a telephone car to play with. Resigning to the fact that that's what he thinks school is all about, we said our prayers and slept.

Morning....was all about, hurry hurry, we need to go to school! Do potty, brush your teeth, drink your milk (still soooo hard, its Donald Duck and his aeroplane that gets him to drink his milk now, sigh!), eat your dosa..(mumma, I want Chutttt...ney...!) run run...all a blur now! Josh was all excited, jumping all over the bed, not putting his clothes, till I threatened that we would not go to canterberry school if Josh doesn't put on his clothes.

A brief camera session with the paternal grandparents, blessings over the phone from Kerala grandparents, and then ammachi saying a short prayer for their 3rd grandchild who's all set for his education!

Appacha kept saying, you both (meaning, dadda and mumma) go to office, we'll take care of him, afterall, this isn't our first time, while I kept saying, he's not going to leave school after seeing the toys. But, there's always.....Gems!! His new fascination...for the coloured chocolate drops, he'd stop crying, and do anything for Gems! So, very confident with a Gems box in the bag, appacha and ammachi took Josh to school, with his dadda-mumma (us) behind.

School was a noisy playground! Teachers in their green kurtas, ayahs in their red sarees and the enthusiastic principal Susan all saying Good morning, while Josh was in a daze! He made a beeline to a table covered with.......you guessed right, buses, bikes and cars! And...just sat there playing...in all that noise, unaffected. Kids all around were jumping, playing with blocks, going down the slides, swings, but our little master was busy playing with his bus.

I'd got the camera and videocam along, with two motives in mind. One, to take pics of Josh (of course) and second, for an assignment for all moms that we paste pics of our little one and submit a colourful book with his experiences at our first PTA meeting!! Aaaargggghhh....and so it begins. :)

Susan then announces a musical chair program and all mothers had to run around chairs holding their kids to some music. Josh did not want to run and just wanted to get back to his car/bus/bike.Sigh...:) And so I get him one of the buses, and clutching that, he runs with me! :) We lost, of course...and had to announce/introduce ourselves as punishment.

When time was up, and the next batch of kids had to come in, the school bell was rung. But, of course, our lil' Josh didn't want to go home. No sireeee, he wanted to play with his bus. Out comes the magic Gems, and wooop, down goes the bus. Yippeee...all of us trudge out, saying thank you, teacher...we'll come back on Monday! Thus ended Josh's first day at school! Not bad, don't you think? Atleast he didn't cry...but wait, we still have more days of this, hope he adjusts well and learns to enjoy himself out there. More updates sooon! :)

School time is here!

Its almost the end of another day...I've just tucked my boy to sleep and am whiling away time browsing Facebook and other sites. Just recently, one of my friends on FB started a new blog and began documenting anything and everything that happened to her. I was like, hey I have...had...a blog too! Sheesh....guilty as charged! I really need to blog more often and not when I see others blog!

My little boy is all of 2 years and {mumbling...Nov..Dec...yep!) 5 months old! I love coming home to him in the evenings and seeing his enthusiastic "Mumma...Dadda!! I want to go driving in Dadda's car...Dadda's motorbike!" Boy, it sure beats the boring day I've had at work :)

Josh is a big boy now...time flies by soo quickly! He should be beginning nursery this year, haven't sent him to any playgroup as yet (unlike other Pune parents...kids here begin the so-called playgroup at 1.6 years!). Josh will be, God willing, going to the nursery that his cousins DJ and Divya went to- Canterberry. A huge huge step for my boy...one that I'm looking forward to..but I also know that its going to be another world for him from now on....friends, fights, exams, peer pressure, gum, class assembly, etc etc. Its going to be a learning experience for us as parents and for him, as he steps into the most glorious time of his life - SCHOOL!

Well, it all begins this June, 2012...I pray that God blesses him with a willing spirit, an open mind and intelligence so that he enjoys his school years and does his best at everything he puts his mind to!

So much that we take for granted...

I always look towards my blog as a way to vent out my feelings, frustrations, happiness, tears, anger...and today its all about sadness.
My colleague's only sister died this weekend; she was pregnant and due this week. Imagine coming to office on Monday and hearing this news as soon as you step in. When I got to know the details that she had labour pains in the night and didn't tell anyone, I was shocked, angry and sad. Should I direct my blame at her ( a girl who thought she could bear the pain) and ended up loosing her life and her unborn child's? No, I just cannot. How was she supposed to know? It must have been her first and unless you've gone though childbirth before, you'd never know when it is time to stop waiting and rush to the hospital. In this time and era when women make a fuss for a little bit of pain, its unbelieveable that something like this can happen. Maybe she felt it wasn't time to go to the hospital just yet. :(
I don't want to go into the intricacies, but I want to focus on how much we take for granted. A birth is such a happy occasion, you do not expect to be mourning at the end of it all, do you? But the sad fact is, when things go without a hitch, we often tend to forget to raise our eyes and thank our heavenly Father for His grace and His blessings and for always looking over us. I've always wondered that wouldnt it be nice if only good things happened to us? We wouldn't have to be sad or angry or frustrated. But a rose is never without thorns, you'll have to deal with the pain as well as with the happiness. Only God can give us the courage, strength and peace to do so. My prayers for the grieving family...

It's time for my yearly blog!!

Tee heee...(ref:subject line!) I know a school friend who makes fun of me because I've maintained a consistent 1 or 2 blogs per year!!But the chances are, since I'm writing in this early this year, that I may blog in once more this year!! :) Hugely defeats the purpose of maintaining a blog, eh?

Anyway, I'm bloggin in to announce that I'm a mommy now to a baby boy! We've named him Joshua and the journey, so far, has not been thaaaaaat taxing as I thought it would be. Its mainly because of my family support and my darlin' husband who acts like a baby too with Josh! :) [What would I do without my Aji].

So, a boy!! I hear from my comrades(pre-natal class) who've had baby girls on how easy it is...but with boys? Its demanding, they're ever so naughty and ever so hungry!! And, I'm lovin' it! :) Wouldn't think of my life in any other way...have to thank God for being with me every millisecond of the way, for blessing us even in the most simplest of things that we take for granted.

Looking forward to bruised knees, cycle races, dirty clothes and seeing my lil' boy grow up! :)

Yayyy...the third trimester is here!

Just 12 more weeks..well, that's what Pregnancy Weekly tells me! To be frank, all these dates are confusing. The sonography reports give different dates each time, books tell me its 9 months + 1 week from the first month, etc etc...so what month am I in now? :) I'd like to go by Pregnancy Weekly and confuse my doctor the next time I go to see her...maybe argue a bit with her (actually I can't, the lady does not communicate!!)

Now, isn't that a point of concern? Shouldn't gynaecologists be a bit more talkative? Granted that they see preggie women everyday..and each one's feelings/questions/doubts are more or less the same...but gimme a break! I'm going through this for the first time!! Sheeesh...sometimes I wish she'd show some enthusiasm. The husband and I ask point-to-point questions and hope she doesn't blow her top with some of the stupid qs we come up with...if we manage to get her to smile at our foolishness, we actually think we've had a narrow escape!! haha...boy, have I made my doc sound like the doc who created Frankenstein!! (come to think of it, I believe that doc was quite excited when Frankenstein started moving)...

So, yeah...2 trimesters down..1 more to go...its week 28 now; which would mean, that the 7th month is over with this week. Now begins the breathlessness, the swelling of the legs, etc etc. I already feel like a potato sack waddling around. It sure doesn't help that I go hunting for Mathew's tshirts to wear at home..(which, btw, I'm gonna overgrow in the next few months..hehe)...

But I gotta tell you, its miraculous how a baby can be growing inside another human being..here, me!! When baby kicks or rolls around, I'm sometimes taken by surprise (yep, even now...the denial continues..what's that alien thing inside me, I sometimes wonder)..sometimes, its like as if someone has just given me a POW! or a SOCK! (like in the comics) right in the lower stomach...hehe...and I've never been beaten up even once in my entire life, that my baby does from inside these days!! :)

Any minute thing can get me all anxious these days..the reigning one these days is my high cholesterol level. I've always been plump, but reading about its consequences during pregnancy can get anyone all jittery- hence I gotta exercise and watch my diet like crazy now. The doc says that I can't put on any more weight (like that's possible!!)...but I wouldn't mind if baby started using up my existing fat..I'd be the first mommy to loose weight by being pregnant..hehe...yeah right!

All in all, I really need your (anyone who's reading this blog) prayers for a safe delivery...lemme put up a really cute pic of how a normal baby at 28 weeks is supposed to look like now! Can you imagine? wow...God is indeed great!