::shruti::

02:31 pm: Saying Goodbye
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Saying Goodbye
Originally uploaded by seat_5a. </div>Watching Nana's ashes float downstream where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers intersect.

From Left to Right: Sujan, Dad, Raju Mama, Mom, Me.

04:59 pm: OMG FRIENDSCUT
Something I never really saw myself doing was an "OMGZ!fRieNDzcut!" because it just seems strange to me. Some people do wield it as some sort of strange passive-aggressive tool or something to make themselves exclusive. I don't really feel that way, but I do have a lot of journals that were defunct on my list. I assume that people who haven't posted in over a year or since last summer or something are probably not logging on to read their friendspage. SO, I took them off, but not in an "I don't like you" kind of way.

Though I did take off a few people whose journals I didn't really read that much or didn't enjoy and didn't really feel like having them read mine either. I know, I know, its an online journal, but whatever. I do feel sort of bad about that, but...

I also took off "shrutisfriends" which is a username I made for my friends without LJs. I forgot who has access and I don't like that. So I took it off. Get an LJ or email me if you still want to read.


All of this is also because I now have a public blog. You can read that at http://www.newtojersey.blogspot.com.


Maybe its just a simplify kind of mood. I want to get rid of a bunch of old clothes at my house too...but that's a big project! I guess I'll clean up my facebook profile or something in the meantime.

10:03 am: Yeah...

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta

10:06 am: Big news all around
The not so big news, but the most exciting thing in my world today is the fact that I am flying home today for my New Years vacation. I think we are also going to do a few hours worth of tourist stuff in Philadelphia today too.

The big news in my world (besides Former President Gerald Ford dying) is the sale of the Star Tribune. The surprise of the sale was something even the executive officers of the company acknowledged yesterday.

It was a surprise mainly because when McClatchy decided to buy Knight Ridder, they assured employees of the Star Tribune that it was the one paper that was safe because the Strib was its "flagship paper." There was a lot of consternation about what would happen when McClatchy spent all its cash buying KR, but the one thing Stribbers felt assured in was that at least our paper would be in the same chain, whatever other changes may come down the line.

Perhaps the sale shouldn't have been a surprise. Perhaps the jumping ship that editor Anders Gyllenhaal did last week (to take a job at McClatchy's Miami paper) should have been an indicator of major changes ahead. (Though Gyllenhaal claims he didn't know of the impending sale before accepting the job. Perhaps he didn't know, but McClatchy execs sure knew. They wanted to keep him in the company, so they moved him to Miami to save him, is my belief.)

All that aside, the biggest concern right now is, what next? I feel that it has been the trend that, following the sale of a newspaper, layoffs or buyouts (in the case of companies with unions, including the Star Tribune) occur. Between us, I think there is some need to weed out a few people in the Star Tribune newsroom, who really don't produce much work, while others are working their tails off, but I think those positions need to be replaced with people who do work hard, not less staff. And I am concerned about prior cuts to the night desk, especially design positions, that have not been filled. The designers are STILL working doubly hard, with no relief in sight just yet. They keep losing people but not filling the positions, so the cuts by attrition there have been ginormous.

I could take time to write about problems in the newspaper industry in general, but then I would be writing about things I don't understand fully (not that that is much different than my job, but at least there I have someone else who analyzes things and I just write about it!)

Anyway, its a big time of uncertainty and I wish my former colleagues and friends the best. I am also a little sad for me because I always planned to return to the Star Tribune someday. I hope I still have a quality paper to return to.

05:25 pm: I solemnly swear...
Muslim group seeks apology from Virgina congressman.

Excerpt:
WASHINGTON -- A Muslim group is asking Virginia Republican Rep. Virgil Goode to apologize after he told hundreds of his constituents that more Americans will follow the lead of Minnesota voters and send more Muslims to Congress if strict immigration laws are not passed.
"The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran," Goode wrote.

The letter was written in response to constituents who contacted Goode after Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said he planned to bring his Koran with him when he takes the oath on Jan. 4.


I can't believe we still have people who are so xenophobic in this country that are actually IN CHARGE of our government decisions. Personally, if I had a representative that I voted into office being sworn in to uphold and protect my rights as a U.S. citizen, I would want them to do it on a book they believed in, not a book that had no meaning to them. Having someone swear in on a religious text is a symbol that they swear by God to uphold whatever their oath is. Having them swear in on another religious text makes the whole symbolism moot.

And when we're talking about swearing in for this country, shouldn't we ALL be sworn in holding the Constitution? Isn't that the one document that ties us all together--freedom of religion included?

Besides, its not like the past good, Christian, public servants have always upheld the high moral religious beliefs of the Bible. Right Mr. Foley? Right Mr. Gingrich?

Tags: political

06:31 pm: My Xmas Stocking
( my xmas stocking )

10:34 pm:













man, I love summer.

12:07 pm: HSHAHAHHAHAHAH
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/mario.php

I am so happy. i love this song.

04:04 pm: just call me jane
got this off of asiantnt's blog

apparently I am a mix of Jane Fonda, Jamie Lee Curtis and Courtney Cox Arquette. Did you see it? definitely don't have "monica's" cleanliness habits, looking at my car this week...

find out yours here.

11:38 pm: Friends Only




Toothpaste for Dinner.