About two years ago I saw my first Roomba and I have had it on my wish list ever since. So when I saw this iRobot Roomba 550 on sale at Costco, I knew it was time. Even more, my schedule has been the busiest it’s ever been and even if I wanted to clean the floors (which I don’t) I don’t have the time. So, Roomba to the rescue. I don’t have to do anything, but make sure it’s charged, there are no loose things that could get caught in it on the floor and I press a button. Roomba roams around and finds dirt and cleans it. It’s so wonderful. It really is. I’ve had it for just a week and so far, my floors are the cleanest they’ve ever been. I’ve heard some complaints about Roomba not picking up dust on hardwood, but I haven’t experienced that problem at all.

I hope you enjoy the unboxing video. Of course I had to score it with some Bhangra music and if you made it all the way to the end of the video, you’ll have seen a little bhangra dancing by my new iRobot!

This video is from the last time I was in India in 2008, a trip I took with my dear friend Liz. This was before I started blogging and the first time I really picked up a camera to start capturing stories myself.

We traveled to the far western city of Jaisalmer, a remote desert city close to the India – Pakistan border known for a huge fort where, within the walls, a functioning town still exists.

From the beginning, this trip was an adventure starting with a 19 hour train trip that had no food, no real stops, and we had 3rd class tickets. (I’ll save this story for another time). In any case this video is on was of one of  the incredible moments we had on this trip. The gentleman playing the music wandered over to us and just started playing. There are a lot of street musicians in India, just trying to make a few dollars… it’s kind of amazing to know that is how they get by. At the end of the video he explains that the instrument is an “algoza” and it is very popular in Rajisthan. It has both male and female sounds, which explains why it’s two flutes in one instrument.

I hope you enjoy the video. I can’t believe I’m just editing it now after having it on my drive for 2 years! Yes I’ll be taking a camera with me again and look forward to showing you India 2010.

I of course, tweeted “earthquake?” the moment I felt it- before I realized that I could be in danger. Luckily I wasn’t, but I was scared. Not much freaks me out anymore. I like to think I’m an independent girl but days like today really make me miss my family, my parents and my friends.

This vlog post is inspired by that scared/sad/worried feeling and what happened right after as I checked back online to see what others had seen and felt. There were so many tweets and replies from friends who experienced the quake and others who wanted to make sure I was ok. @joyofzen was the first “wow, you felt it too? Are you in SD right now?” It’s funny how simply being reminded that I wasn’t really alone instantly lifted my spirits. My friend @solipsistic is a pretty tough guy, “That was a pretty kick ass earthquake. Not disaster movie strength but enough for me to way WTF!!!” Yes, WTF was pretty much my feeling too and his tweet proved to me that I wasn’t just being a baby.

Nothing makes the world feel small like instantly seeing well wishes come in from around the globe, @Lian_O checking in from the Netherlands, @Mikaelj from Sweeden, @starmike from the East Coast and @Dramagirl from Australia… friends who are sprinkled around the globe in touch even before a call from my Mom!

I know I’m a bit mopey in the vlog post above, but there were tweets from new San Diego friends that reminded me to smile. @ShadowCatSD tweeted me, “Welcome to San Diego! You have now been baptized. ” and then there was some banter with @blogworld, @coachdeb and @sugarjones, starting with this tweet from @blogworld,  “@sukhjit that was your welcome to San Diego: earthquake for you and @coachdeb 8)” and ending with this tweet from the sassy @sugarjones “@CoachDeb @sukhjit @blogworld Okay… who wants a beer? ”

As I mention in the vlog post above, I don’t post like I use to, for whatever reason, but tonight I couldn’t help but make note of this day and of the great people who helped me get through it.

Las Brisas in Laguna Beach
Beautiful location with an incredible view. We went there on Sunday night after getting lost on the way to my nieces water polo match!

I had a Mahi tostada salad, but its the guacamole, chips and salsa that are something to write home about. The guac was super fresh and a perfect balance of avocado, lime, salt and some kind of seasoning. Mmm. Thanks @efren and @thatsjuststeve for the pointer to Las Brisas.

When Rachael asked me where we could find great Mexican food here in San Diego, I was so embarrassed not to have an answer. After sending out a quick tweet we had several places to choose from:

We ended up at Cantina Mayahuel – a place with a name I can’t pronounce, but with 3 tacos for $5 and excellent margaritas with several kinds of tequila, I have a feeling I will be going there often, at least until I can figure out how to say Ma-ya-hu-el.

Here are the tacos. Apparently, Monday is taco night. We also had this unexpected surprise… chocolate cake with flan baked on top. Sounded really suspect to me, but I assure you, it was all goodness.

Thank you @WhitBenj for that recommendation. I know we haven’t met IRL yet, but after that dinner tip, I have no doubt that you and I need to hang out! Finally, I say it in the video, but it’s worth saying again.. thanks San Diego friends for stepping up when I call out for ya. You really know how to make a girl feel welcome and I appreciate that very much.. as does my belly!

I’m astounded by the technology both on my computer but also of the website I used to stream live called Ustream. I recorded a similar video back in 2008 and it was almost unwatchable. This time, I’m proudly sharing the link over and over again both because the quality is so good and because my nephew is a star. BTW- some of the pieces he performs are his original compositions.

Enjoy the concert and if you have any questions about the live stream, or about the music leave me a note!

If you get a chance to see Gary in person, I recommend it. I’ve seen him a couple times and he just makes you  feel like “crushing it”. Follow him for a little bit and you’ll know what I mean by that.

Thank you Adam Smith, for the book and the wristband. You are cool.

PS I know the video image is backward, sorry about that everyone. I’ll try and fix and reupload if I get a chance this week.

If you haven’t heard, I’m working at Sony Electronics now as their Social Media Evangelist. It’s a great opportunity and I’m very excited about what is ahead. Make sure to check the Sony Electronics Community Blog, as that’s were I will be on a regular basis! I’ll explain more about my job and what I’m doing there at a later time… today I wanted to make sure to say hello, and thanks! Thanks to all of you who have kept up with my transition and have offered friendship and support. Looking at the calendar I realized that I started this website one year ago! Look at how much life has changed in one year. I almost can’t believe it.
At some point I want to tell you all about how this happened. Many of you who know me from Seemic know much about the trials, tribulations and celebrations of the past year. It’s all been quite fantastic.

I’ll be seeing some of you at Blog World tomorrow. If we haven’t met in real life yet and you are in Vagas for Blog World, please make sure to say hello!

Here is what was happening in my life last year…. this video makes me laugh now. I called it So What Are You Doing Now, Sukhjit?

Thank you to everyone who came out to help me celebrate! When I looked around the room, I saw people from all different phases of my life in San Francisco. I have many great memories of my time in the City that I will take with me everywhere. Also a heartfelt thanks to everyone who sent well wishes via facebook, twitter, email, phone, text.. you name it! I feel blessed.

Today I got a big moving surprise from my childhood friend, Cindy. She knows I’m a farmer’s daughter that loves fruit because she is one too! I love the gift, it’s an Edible Arrangement full of various kinds of fruit. Ok, now that I’ve blogged it.. I’m gonna go eat some then get back to packing! Thank you Cindy!

In the many years I worked in television Sony has maintained it’s standing as one of the most coveted brands with a reputation for quality equipment. I’m proud to be chosen by a company which sets the standard for quality. I’ll have many more details about the job and my move in the days ahead. I plan to blog and vlog my way down to San Diego where I will live and work very soon!

Special thanks to my former TechTV colleague Patrick Houston who introduced my blog to Sony a while back. I also want to extend a heartfelt thanks to many of you who helped me get www.sukhjit.me off the ground. Tony Chimento, Michael Silverton, Alan Chaess, Eric Ways, Adam Helweh, Larry Heim, Owen JJ Stone and of course the head ninja in my team, Giannii Calvert. Those of you who come to this site, watch my content, leave comments, give me shout outs on twitter and facebook, you’ve kept me going! My biggest reward has been getting comments from people who have taken the time to participate in my content, thank you. I hope you’ll visit me on the Sony site and support me there too.

I think it’s probably easier to hear it than to read it so here’s a fantastic video done by my friend Derek Overbey with a collection of awesome friends saying it correctly! (I’ll be adding everyone’s name here shortly!)

My dear friend Otir made a video with her two son’s! Otir is French, so her annunciation has a certain French flair! Hats off to her boys too.

See! It’s not so bad, now you try… press do a video response on the viddler video player! Press the + in the bottom right corner of the featured video at the top of the page to add a video comment.

Last but not least, here is a “vintage” video of how to say sook-jeet. This video is from my first week on Seesmic!

I just registered Sukhjit 3.0 on Viralogy yesterday. I did have a small challenge figuring out what category my blog fits under since I cover a spectrum of things on this site. But I’m going to see if it can help my blog get some recognition. What do you think? I know a lot of your have blogs that you love and your content is fantastic. Let’s try Viralogy together and compare notes!

Last, if you watched the video outtake and are wondering what that was all about, I was trying to get a dance lesson from the owner of the Egyptian dance school but she wouldn’t let me record while getting my lesson. Needless to say, the song ended while we were debating back and forth! Sometimes I wish I wasn’t always compelled to record things because then I might have been able to learn some new moves! If you’d like to see some awesome pictures from the event check out Ken Yeung’s photos from the night… and thanks Ken for the thumbnail image for this blog!

Belly dancing at #secretsushi social. on 12seconds.tv

Day 12 I’ve been weak.

Today I fell off the caffeine-free-month-of-August-wagon. I’m not proud of it. It was a quarter cup of chai, which is Indian tea. Chai is more than a drink in my culture it’s an experience. That being said, it’s not an excuse for my slip! Sorry friend… especially those of you who decided to join me and by giving up some kind of vice this month. Boo.

Day 7 It’s been a week.

Thought it was time since I’ve been through an entire week to do a simple update. It’s not fancy, but at least you can see that I’m surviving! For those of you taking the challenge with me… I’m happy to have the support. Do let me know about your challenges and solutions… don’t let your friends and loved ones blame me for your caffeineless grumpiness =).

Day 4 Learning New Habits.

(Note: The video for this text is in the featured area above)
Finding substitutes for my coffee (and chocolate & tea) cravings has been interesting. I started with hot water or cup of almond milk the first couple days. Sounds weird to you hard core coffee addicts I’m sure, but it’s been ok. The bigger and more interesting change is in my morning activity. Instead of settling in with my cup of java and my Macbook for the morning… I have been going out for a challenging walk. There are a lot of hills in my neighborhood, so it’s not hard to get my heart rate up. In the video above I actually went to a different neighborhood because those stairs are challenging and the views are spectacular. Why not have a little pleasure with the pain! And by the way, when people have talked about the headaches they get when they give up caffeine I didn’t believe them… that is, until I started to get them myself.

I hope you enjoy coming along on this walk with me. Of course a good soundtrack is essential to the workout and the song in the video is what I was listening to so I wanted to share. I’ll continue to update this post with any new discoveries or adventures from the rest of my caffeine free month. Like I said before, feel free to leave a comment or message. If you want to leave a video comment, you can do that by pressing the + in the bottom right of the video player. Video comments are always welcome! Thanks friends!

Day 1 The Beginning.

If you know me at all you know how much I love and look forward to my morning coffee. Sometimes (actually often) I think about the next day’s cup before I go to sleep. I even have 5 different gadgets for making coffee from an old fashioned drip machine to various presses to a campfire espresso maker. Well, I’ve decided to break the “addiction”. I’m giving up coffee for the month of August.

Since I started video blogging, I’ve gotten a lot of support for many things I wanted to try, like when I wanted to ride my bike to work last year. The encouragement and advice I got from my friends on Seesmic pushed me the right direction. Now I love riding my bike in the City, where before it was just something I talked about doing for years. So, I’m sharing this challenge with y’all as well. Check back here for updates… though beware, they may not be so pleasant! Grrrr = grumpy.

Leave me a message or share some stories if you’ve done something similar. What worked for you? Any advice? And if you feel like challenging yourself this month.. lemme know, I’m here to support you too.

Something you may not know about her is that before she retired, Frieda owned a school where she taught computers and technology. I’ve often admired her Entrepreneurial spirit and find it no surprise that she is starting this new business. She is doing something she loves and is known for, so I like to think Frieda’s Hat is bound for success.

If you’re in the market for a fabulous ladies hat, visit her site. I love my beautiful wide brimmed camel colored hat. The quality is great and it’s really fun to wear! The hat bands are handmade by Freida and as you can hear my Dad say in the video, “This one hat with different ribbons it’s like wearing different hats all the time.” The hats are a great value at just around $40 and the bands are just under $6 each.

And last but not least, if you don’t know them yet, the special studio audience in this episode of Unboxing are my Mom & Dad! I decided to open up the box while we had afternoon tea at their farm.

The designs at Birdhouse Jewelry are very unique and most everything there was affordable. I bought this necklace and earrings for about $40, which I think is a good price. There was a nice variety of “Twitter Jewelry”… birds in various forms on necklaces, earrings and bracelets. Check out the Birdhouse Jewelry website for the newest collections and let the designer, Amy know that I sent you! She was to shy to be interviewed the day I was there!

I also want to add that the Brooklyn Flea Market is a sold thing to do when you’re in NYC. I went on Saturday AND Sunday and had a great time. There is a huge variety of vintage buys but also a great selection of local designers. I also got some lovely home made ice cream from a vendor at the Sunday market. If you’re in NYC over a weekend, save a few hours to go to the Brooklyn Flea!