As Life Goes Digital

This article in Gazette highlights the problems that Maryland employers facing as a result of 85000 H1-B visa cap. Getting H1-B in US is a lottery system now with so many applicants fiercely competing for meager 65,000 H1-B visas.

Students in US are some what better off in the sense that they can work on F1 visa for 29 months and apply for 20,000 H1-B visas available.

Chamber of commerce's lobbying was not working to increase the cap back to 195,000 quota of 2003.

Is H1-B effecting the salaries and jobs taken away from US workers ?

Globalization and the American IT Worker(pdf).

A number of studies have found that the H-1Bs are paid on average 15% to 33% less than comparable U.S. IT workers.Given the similarity in salary savings between offshoring and labor importation, and the fact that having the work done on-site is far more productive, it is much more cost-effective from a CEO’s point of view to hire H-1Bs than to offshore the work

Related articles

• Google executives complain about 90 denied H-1B visas [Toogle Many Googlers] [via Zemanta]
• H-1B opponents challenge Bush administration in court [via Zemanta]
• The Battle Over H-1B Visas Heats Up With Conflicting Reports [via Zemanta]

Labels: H-1B visa, Immigration, Recreation, Society and Culture, Travel, United States, US, Visa

McCain and Hillary Clinton are proposing federal gas tax holiday break this summer which means MINUS 18.4 cents of gallon gas price with no federal tax.

If the proposal is approved ....doing the math -- my car which gives 20 miles per gallon and $4.47 is the gas price for today (June 2'2008) in Chicago, IL === 0.04 Gallons of free gas i.e 0.8 miles free.

Hope they pass this law soon.

I always wondered what components make up a gallon of gas price - Here is the answer for $4.47 (premium unleaded) a gallon of gas for today consists of

3.26 = crude Oil
0.49 = taxes
0.26 = Distribution and Marketing
9.44 = Refining

I didn't come up with these numbers, CNN gave the % allocations here



If states allow state tax exemptions that would bring the gas price to $4.00.

Labels: taxes, Travel

This is one useful experience that my friend shared with me when he travelled with his family to London and returned to US on AP documents when his AOS application is pending.

Ap (Advance Parole) will allow one to travel outside the United States while one's adjustment of status application is pending.These documents is valid between the dates shown on the document, and to re-enter into the U.S. without a valid visa in passport. Make sure that you are physically inside the United States prior to the expiration date shown on the document.

We will receive two or three original travel documents that are all identical (you will only need two - however USCIS sometimes has sent out three originals. If you have three originals (keep one in a safe place at home). Take a couple of copies with you in addition to the two originals. When you use these documents for the first time, the airline may ask for a copy of the Advance Parole.Upon arrival into the US, one original Advance Parole will be stamped by immigration and they may take the other original.

My friend carried only one original document and that created big problems for him and he was questioned that delayed his immigration check by more than half hour. So make sure you carry all the (three identical) documents when travelling with AP.

Be sure to retain the original Advance Parole (Form I-512) stamped by the U.S. Immigration officer since this is a multiple entry document and you may wish to use it again at a later date. You will not be given a new document, so make sure you keep this document in a safe place for future traveling.

If you have not yet received your employment authorization document (EAD), and you travel internationally, please carry with you a copy of your current Form I-797A approval notice that will be evidence of your work status (H or L). Upon your return to the U.S., these documents will verify that you are authorized to work in the U.S., if the question should arise from the U.S. inspector at the border. Make a copy of the I94 record that you will surrender when you leave the US so that you have record of it for the return trip.

If you already have your Employment authorization document you should carry it with you and you do not need to carry the other documents discussed above. You still may want to copy the I94 record for your future reference.

Labels: Advance Parole, Ap, EAD, green card, Immigration, Travel

Zoolights 2007 in Chicago is open in the evenings from 5 PM to 6 PM for about six weeks during the holiday season, beginning late November and continuing through early January. Parking is available on intersection of Cannon drive and Fullerton Ave. For 3 hours we paid around 14$ for parking at exit. ZooLights begins halfway down Cannon drive, a short walk from the Lincoln Park zoo entrance on Cannon drive. Our experience was mixed and our 18 months toddler enjoyed every bit of 3 hours and the place is bit crowded as weather is too good around 45 F with no wind chill. Apart from lights and animals , there are plenty of chance to make fun, winter themed crafts, decorate cookies, watch an ice-sculpting demonstration (Guy is too good with the chain saw kind of hammer sculpting the ice in few minutes), enjoy puppet shows, and listen to storytellers.

Labels: Chicago, Travel, Zoo

Bahai temple Wilmette - Chicago, IL

Bahai temple Wilmette is one of the notable religious architecture that is a must see chicago attraction when one is visiting the windy city.Wilmette's House of Worship is the oldest of the seven existing Bahá'í temples around the world.Wilmette is nestled north of Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan.The village of Wilmette, Illinois takes you back to a time when the little shops were friendly and carried interesting merchandise and catered to you with the service that is so hard to find in today's world. Modern day Wilmette has all the appeal of small town America with the big city right at your feet.

Bahai temple Wilmette video :

Bahai faith and history:

The Bahá'í faith is one of the youngest of the world's major religions.It was founded by Baha'u'llah in Iran in the 19th century.Bahá’ís reside in more than 100,000 localities around the world, an expansion that reflects their dedication to the ideal of world citizenship.Bahá'í communities gather at the beginning of each month at a meeting called a Feast for worship, consultation and socializing. Bahá'ís continue to be persecuted in Islamic countries, especially Iran, where over 200 believers were executed between 1978 and 1998.Representing a cross section of humanity, Bahá’ís come from virtually every nation, ethnic group, culture, profession, and social or economic class.

Lotus Bahai Temple (Delhi):

There is a video room on the lower level of temple that screens (freely) the architectural road blocks & history in building these modern marvels.Seeing the people from Indian origin the staff at Chicago Bahai temple screened the Delhi's Bahai temple's construction and its history video tape.Lotus Bahai Temple (Delhi), Bahai faith represents the equality of mankind and oneness of its soul.The Terraces and Gardens at the Shrine are truly a wonder of the modern world.The video is so beautifully made that I'm adding Lotus Bahai temple to must see places.

Labels: Bahai, Bahai temple Wilmette, Chicago, Lotus Bahai Temple, Travel

My 1+ year toddler is so fascinated with her animals book she asks us repeatedly all the animal names and their sounds.This is a perfect time we thought a visit to the zoo will introduces her to the fascinating world of wild animals.Our hope was that she will learn about the animals, while spending quality time with us. I took some pictures and put a small photo gallery with photograph of the animal that she saw at the zoo.This keeps her busy now a days and distracts her from other toddler regular destructions.

The Brookfield Zoo is Located in Chicago suburbs , the Brookfield Zoo is very large and difficult to see all of the wild life in one day. Also the weather should be convenient as there is a great deal of walking in the zoo as space between exhibits is quite significant. On the other hand, it is quite a enjoyable walk as space between exhibits are filled with views of fountains, gardens, and parks.

Select the dropdown to watch the Brookfield Zoo Wild life gallery:

CamelsPeacockElephantsTropicalWorld Buffalo Deer Dolphin showSeal Loins African LoinSlothbears

Tropic World is housed in a big building, and is made up of multi species rain forest exhibits divided into three regions (South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa). Each exhibit is viewed from a trail perched in the middle of the building. Perhaps it's most intriguing characteristic is the species mixing.

Motor safari tram is nice addition if you would like to see all of the Zoo at one shot.This costs you extra money other than general admission price.



Dolphin Presentations is a nice to see show but not a must see show that I have seen previously in Baltimore, Maryland.

I have not used myself the coupons but when you register or online you could grab these coupons that might save you few dollars.

Labels: Brookfield, Chicago, Travel, Zoo

Niagara Falls is such a wonderful experience that you will find yourself trying to capture the moments with your digital camera in all possible angles but still you come back with feeling that you missed to capture the RIGHT moment.I drove close to six hundred miles from Chicago to Niagara falls in one day to let my parents experience these water fall moments. I have visited it four times already in the brief span of seven years.But first time is the only time I wanted to see them by myself but all the other remaining times either it is for a friend or got married so got to take wife to show her my long patient testing driving skills.But almost on every occasion I enjoyed Niagara falls trip.Why is it that visiting Niagara Falls tops desi's (probably mostly Indian community) list of must see attractions ? Probably a status thing to show off that they did visit US of A by checking off Niagara in their itinerary list.Tell your friend that your Parents are with you in US for a visit.The next immediate question they ask is when are you taking them to Niagara falls and they give you all kinds of advises and their experiences.It is fact that the common scene at Niagara falls is saris and smell of Indian spices from the groups of people picinicing in the park areas.Also you see parents posing for their techie son's/daughter's camera in order to boast the travel experience with their relatives back home that they have seen the world’s most talked viewed water falls.

Niagara falls - Attractions
The most viewed attractions at Niagara falls are Maid of the mist and Cave of the winds.
Maid of the Mist - The Maid of the Mist boat tour is must-see-feel experience tour at Niagara Falls. Along with 300 other people you get on to one of the several boats on either the American or Canadian side of the falls and push up closer than you care to get to the base of the Horseshoe Falls or american falls. At the base of the falls, your boat gets closer to falls for few moments fighting the strong falls current and the mist.This soaking opputunity lasts longer and then boat moves away from the falls for the quick ride downstream back to the dock.

Cave of the Winds - One magnificent unique view that lets you get up close and personal with the falls is from the Cave of the Wind tour. After first acquiring yellow rain coats and special foot wear to give you better traction on the wet walkways, you descend to the tunnels via an elevator. Leaving the tunnels, you wind your way along walkways built on the rocks below the American part of the falls looking up at the falls. You are within a few feet of the water falling from such a height creating a hurricane effect and hence a name Hurricane deck. It's like walking into a hurricane, with the wind and mist from the falls and time to soak as yellow rain coats cannot with stand that many gallons of pressured water fall. I had to hide my expensive DSLR, but I was happy that I got some up close wanted shots.

Other Misc. travel tips:


Hotel - We stayed at Hampton Inn which is like half a mile from the falls.A bit expensive compared to other hotels but we got double queen bed non smoking clean livable room.With the baby we don't want to compromise on the hotel quality.Be sure to check entertainment.com [I've been their member since 2005 and they do have good deals locally and nation wide].Use their latest coupons for nationwide hotel chains.I was able to save few dollars this way.Also if you have time check the bidding process like at priceline.com or some other sites that help you to bid on your hotel: betterbidding.com , flyertalk and biddingfortravel
Note : Some hotels are strict in cancellation policies so be cautious if you have any travel plan changes in order to avoid any penalties.

Car Rental - I don't want to put miles on my own vehicle so we ended up renting a mini van from AVIS using coupon codes which gave us a decent discount.Here are some of rental car coupon codes - check out Fatwallet's thread - for 'Codes for Car Rental Company Discounts'.Spend some time with the coupon codes and I'm sure you will save tons of money on car rentals.

Labels: Cave of the winds, Maid of the mist, Niagara Falls, Travel

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament is a chain of dinner theaters which stage tournaments in the style of the Middle Ages.

As we ran out of places to go , We went to this place for my birthday.I had my doubts of this place as this place is for kids or adults?But I was totally wrong and we became kids again cheering for our knight for their victory.The tickets are a bit expensive for dinner and the show (but we got few dollars off coupons).

Dinner is special and of Medieval times that they serve you your food and you don't get any utensils because supposedly they weren't invented yet so you got to eat with your hands.The food was really good i don't think that i will ever forget this.The tournament is okay with men dressed up and riding on horses, battling each other, all while you're eating dinner and getting messy.

The event people keeps you involved by providing colored crowns and flags to match the Knight in your section. Then encouraging the crowd to cheer for their Knight and boo for the other Knights. Before and after the show you can check out the beautiful horses up close in their stalls.A small museum, a bar, and a gift shop is available. You can meet the Knights after the tournament.It may be a one time affair or probably second time only to show it to my kid that will be at least five years from now.
Website : Medievaltimes
Locations: locations in US

Labels: Dinner, Medieval Times, Review, Tournament, Travel

Inchin's Bamboo Garden, Golf Rd, Chicago -IL


Location:
1004 W Golf Rd
Hoffman Estates, IL 60169-1340, US
Check their website for hours, phone, prices and location,
Menu

Crowd:
Usually Friday and Saturday nights are packed with 30 to 45 minutes wait time. Best time is around 7.00PM on these days.

Week days-Mostly full

Freshness:
Soups are overly hot, Appetizers and Main food course is properly hot
Looked and tasted fresh

Unusual:
Too noisy place, If you are a quite restaurant person then this place is not for you on weekends.

Aesthetics (color, layout, etc.):
Very well designed interiors with Chinese like paintings and globes.


Aroma:
Indian-Chinese spices with aroma of garlic and onions.

Prices:
Overpriced for appetizers with respect to quantity.
Reasonably priced for main menu course.



Service:
Helpful but did not bring sodas had to request and remind during half way of our dinner.
Even though Restaurant is packed with wait times, they did not rush us.
Deliver the food to the right people is not a practice for this one, Just will ask who ordered what.
Knowledgeable about the menu.

Problems:
Soups are overly temperature Hot

Buffets:
No buffets.

Others:
Opening new one in Naperville,IL
Good alternative to another Indo-Chinese 'HOT WOK' restaurent.

Disclaimer :It is just my experience and yours may be very well different.

Labels: Bamboo Garden, Inchins, photos, Travel

This is my first post of my travelogue where I'll be discovering my own photo skills and at same time knowledge sharing with the blog readers on my travel photos.

In year 2000, I visited Baltimore Aquarium - This is my first ever 'dolphins show'.
Dolphins are relatively easy to train to perform tricks, Bottlenose Dolphins are the most commonly found performing dolphin in Aquariums.
Here is the picture taken at Baltimore Aquarium with Dolphins diving to the tune of music and with instructor ring tricks.



Baltimore Aquarium

Housing more than 11,000 creatures, the Baltimore Aquarium exhibits a variety of species in their naturalistic habitats. You'll find animals such as stingrays, sharks, sea turtles, bullfrogs, phytoplankton, monkeys, sloths, iguanas, and puffins. The list is perpetual so you have to check the exhibits out for yourself. You can also catch an up-close view of dolphins as they leap and tumble with the Baltimore Aquarium trainers in the live-action Dolphin Show.

Labels: Aquarium, Baltimore, Dolphins, Travel

Everyone these days talk about this modern marvel 'Grand Canyon skywalk' , I shy away from these discussions and even thought of walking on glass bridge of that length scares the hell out of me. Not that I'm afraid of heights but my mind seems got too much trained that simple fact that glass breaks period.Even to physicts What makes glass break is still a mystery, After 2,000 years of making and breaking glass, one might think there would be a definitive answer. But at the Third International Workshop on the Flow and Fracture of Advanced Glasses, held Oct. 2 to 5 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 50 or so of the world's top glass scientists scratched their heads as researchers presented sharply conflicting views on the topic.

My first adventure of glass walking dates back to year 2000 when I visited Toronto's CN tower.
For place Toronto it is said that the trip is not complete if you don't see near by Niagara falls and the CN tower.

"A journey of a thousand miles begin with the first step" - The reverse is true in my case I travelled with much ease more than thousand miles (From India to Toronto) but that one step took me at least half hour to decide If I really wanted to step on that glass floor.When every one around you even kids started praising especially the really cool view of Toronto from a horizontal glass window (see pic to the left) the one straight down view when you step out on to a 6 cm (2.5 inches) thick glass floor, 113 stories above ground. The CN staff says it’s strong enough to support at least a dozen hippos.I got the feeling that I'm not alone as I can see many startled faces and It took me quite a while before I dared to put a foot on it and finally sat on the glass floor as others did and mission accomplished I sky walked Toronto's CN tower meaning not looking down at glass floor I just searched for sky and walked on CN towers glass floor.My first skywalk completed.

Heard these movie dialogues before:

Walt: I thought you were afraid of heights.
Travis: I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of fallin'.

My version:Its the glass that scares me of falling from heights.

Come March, 30 - 2007 , Grand Canyon skywalk is opened for public.What so special about this skywalk ?

The Skywalk will be the first-ever cantilever shaped glass walkway to suspend more than 4,000 feet above the canyon’s floor and extend 70 feet from the canyon’s rim.

I visited Grand Canyon in year 2004, If one asks me to describe the beauty of these majestic canyons I would say - Its like computer ROM ("ROM" in its strictest sense can only be read from, but all ROMs allow data to be written into them at least once, either during initial manufacturing or during a step called "programming"), Once your brain sees these canyons it is difficult to erase these pictures of 'Grand' canyons.

Slide show of canyon in my photos:


There were few photo shoot angles that I tried to capture straight down view of canyons and it is kind of difficult to capture that all like north rim observation points. It is possible before with difficulty before but skywalk should give us 360 degrees straight down view.

The age factor coupled with my acrophobia builds more and more desire to take this real 'skywalk'.

I'm looking forward to my next vacation and a lengthy glass walk.

Labels: Acrophobia, CN tower, glass, Grand Canyon skywalk, skywalk, Toronto, Travel