Last four weeks has been painful but in a good way. We trained hard every weekend pushing ourselves hike longer. I learned quite a few things – how to select the right backpack, how to pack, what food to carry, how to watch my breathing, stride, etc.
Weekend Hikes
Now it is 2 days before i start the journey. Bags are all packed trying to rest up and calm my nerves. I wouldn’t be here with out the support of my family – my wife who has been encouraging me through out the process, giving me time and space to deal with my craziness. All my friends especially my hiking buddies Sachi and Pankaj. I cannot express my gratitude to all my supporters who helped me reach my fundraising goals. THANK YOU!!
Routes
It will be the 21st anniversary of an accident I had in which I almost lost my right leg. August 31st 1997, it was a sunny afternoon I was cruising on my motorcycle to reach the train station to catch a train to home, visiting my family during a short break I got during my 3rd year of undergrad.
With lot of help from my family and friends I was able to quickly recover from the injury and life went on. However, I never got back the agility I used to have in my feet. Few years back I found that I have tendentious in my right ankle and I am over compensating on my left leg causing my knee to wear more than they should. Last year, I got the wakeup call and decided to get better so that I could be there for my family and not be an anchor slowing us down.  we got a fur baby (Shadow) to our family he definitely keeps us active on our feet. This year with help of my friend Sachi I am embarking on an ambitious journey to climb 4 14ers (Mt. Massive, Mt. Harvard, Grays and Torreys Peak) in Colorado from August 31st 2018 to September 3rd 2018). Celebrating the 21st anniversary of my accident and showing myself that I can still keep going.
When I decided to hike in Colorado I also wanted to do it for a cause, so I choose to raise funds for the Wounded Warriors Project. I am honored to work for USAA. It’s a company with a great mission and purpose that keep you coming to work every single day. At work I get to meet people with inspiring stories of what service meant to them and how they fought with their fears, inabilities and still went above and beyond for the call of duty. Wounded Warrior Project was the first one that came to my mind, their mission to serve people who are not only physical injured but also for those who are combating mental injury and illness. This effort of mine is a small way to honor and give back to those who sacrificed for the country and our freedom.
Please help me carry forward with your donation. Every little bit will help reach my goal.
https://www.facebook.com/Suresh.C.Susarla/posts/10214184988593462
Thanks for your support.
I am trying ANOTHER new thing is to recap and capture what i have been doing. This is my recap for the month of January 2009. Apart from my day job at FedEx here are few things that i did over the month.
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Created my photoblog, http://susarla.com/photoblog
- Freelanced a photoshoot for Telugu Community. Result can be seen here
- Joined a gym..FINALLY
- Became a moderator for Internet Evolution site. This is lot of fun. Very interesting artilces and discussions
- Participating in SocialMedia Expedition breakfast meetings. Follow on twitter @SMExpedition. Highly recommend you all to check it out. Awesome group and very interesting coversations.
These are the highlights. I hope to finish up couple of draft blog i have been working on for a week now. I am collecting data on Psychology behind socialmedia/social networking. If anyone finds an interesting article please pass it along. I hope to keep up with my updates in coming months..stay tuned.
Another year passes by right before your eyes..makes you wonder where did all the time go?? Very cliche’ yes it is but it is also so true (atleast for me this year). A lot of things have happened my baby turned ONE, i changed jobs, discovered the taste for Cigars, and the list goes on..but these are enough for now.
For all you out there family, friends, well wishers and most importantly visitors who stopped by to check out site …Wish you a very happy new year 2009. I hope this year brings in a lot of joy to you all. Have a great year.
People who know me knows how ardent coffee lover i am. My day never goes by with (several) cups of Joe. As in any day i tuned into NPR as soon as i sat in my car. That’s the only station that will be playing if i am alone. While listening to their Writer’s Almanac program this afternoon i heard this wonderful poem written by Margie Piercy called “In Praise of Joe”. Here is how it goes..
In Praise of Joe
by Marge Piercy
I love you hot
I love you iced and in a pinch
I will even consume you tepid.
Dark brown as wet bark of an apple tree,
dark as the waters flowing out of a spooky swamp
rich with tannin and smelling of thick life—
but you have your own scent that even
rising as steam kicks my brain into gear.
I drink you rancid out of vending machines,
I drink you at coffee bars for $6 a hit,
I drink you dribbling down my chin from a thermos
in cars, in stadiums, on the moonwashed beach.
Mornings you go off in my mouth like an electric
siren, radiating to my fingertips and toes.
You rattle my spine and buzz in my brain.
Whether latte, cappuccino, black or Greek
you keep me cooking, you keep me on line.
Without you, I would never get out of bed
but spend my life pressing the snooze
button. I would creep through wan days
in the form of a large shiny slug.
You waken in me the gift of speech when I
am dumb as a rock buried in damp earth.
It is you who make me human every dawn.
All my books are written with your ink.
“In Praise of Joe” by Marge Piercy from The Crooked Inheritance. © Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
December 23rd, 2007
admin
Christmas came in early this year (2007) for us. My wife and i are proud parents of a baby girl, Sruti.
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Born on : 13th November, 2007 |
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Thanks to all our friends and family for all their support and wishes. Sruti will have her own photoblog where i will be posting her pictures and stories of her achievements. Stay tune for the site announcement..
Here is an achievement from this week that makes me feel good about myself. I have successfully passed the certification exam for project management. So what does this mean? This means that i am now a “Certified Business Professional in Project Management”. This is issued by International Business Training Association (IBTA, http://cbpcertify.com) which is a similar organization as PMI.
Do it yourself – WoW!! its so cool phrase. There are all sorts of stuff available in market which will make you “think” that you could do it. Yes i am saying this out of my own experience :). Me and my wife are not huge DIYers but now and then when we bump into a doable (according to us ;)) we will not hesitate to jump in and get dirty. My wife is my best team mate she gives great support and motivation and not to mention very skillful.
Our big success story is constructing a recreation room in our house. Right after 5 months we moved into our house we started working on finishing a part of the house that was unfinished. Got some help in putting up the dry wall but after that we both finished the rest of the house. These pictures tell the story.
Our next project is to create a ‘home made’ studio. We have been searching a lot for tips and tools to create a home studio, ofcourse we are on a shoe string budget. So the first things i was looking for were backdrops. One would think that is not hard to find, yes it was not hard to find but were in the range of $100-$300. Thank you very much!!
So finally we thought through and asked what do we need for a backdrop. As we deconstructed what a backdrop is made of we thought why can not we do it using some simple tie and dye basics. Walla!! thats it we got it. Now it is time to decide to choose fabric which was fairly easy. Muslin was the first thing that poped up because it is cheap, its heavy, can efficiently absorb dye, has character and is not glossy. Thats it next day on our way back to home after work we went to hobby store and bought 3 yards of 108″ wide white Muslin, a packet of fabric dye and a twine. Total expenditure $20.00. We plan to get our hands dirty doing this over weekend. Will post how it went
Suresh Susarla is Program Manager at the Workforce ADL Co-Lab at the University of Memphis. As a system architect and developer, his experience includes databases and authoring tools for intelligent tutoring environments, customizing applications using databases and statistical analysis on data collections, and creating dynamic websites. He participated in projects in artificial intelligence, complex dynamic systems, neural networks and modeling and development of authoring tools for intelligent tutoring environments. He has published and presented his works in various national and international conferences on Intelligent Tutoring Systems.
Mr. Susarla is responsible for enterprise vision and planning, establishing collaborative relationships with institutions (for-profit and non-profit), marketing and public relations, project management and planning for various grants. Mr. Susarla establishes and maintains partnerships with regional workforce, especially their training departments, to help them with adopting eLearning standards such as SCORM. Mr. Susarla is actively involved in business development and networking with the local community. He co-organizes the Workforce eLearning Resource Network (WERN), a unique forum for regional organizations engaged in workforce training to keep abreast of eLearning technologies and strategies for their implementation.
Mr. Susarla graduated from The University of Memphis with a Master’s degree in Business Administration with an Information Systems major. He has a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Andhra University, India. His technical expertise includes web programming, PHP, MySQL and SQL Server database administration, and Windows server administration.
