$800,000 to repair a pothole on I-95 in Hampton

All the tax payer bills are going down the drain. I could not believe my ears when i heard this in today's news. The state had nearly approved an estimate of $800,000 to fix a pot hole near a manhole near interstate 95 along hampton (when you drive to the hampton beach right in front of the liquor shop across the NH-MA border).

Here is the breakdown of the estimate,

$16,000 to pay to the state trooper for eight days,
$97,000 for inflation (what ?????),
$71,000 for consultant fees (I thought only lawyers, doctors, state troopers got paid well)
and several other line items which add up to $800,000

Here is the news from WMUR channel, (if you dont believe me still).
http://www.wmur.com/news/13368898/detail.html

When the person who prepared this was questioned here was his reply, "It is just an estimate actual figures can change and be lower too" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (They showed him on TV)

No it was not a typo in the estimate. lol

If there are several pot holes like this many countries would even go bankrupt.

My dream came true

On Sat, May 19 2007 my dream came true.

Studying Masters in US was a dream which I never thought would come true. Since my will was stronger than my skill i was able to fulfill my desire today.

I completed my M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Southern New Hampshire University as a part time student while working a full time job.

It was a great moment in my life, the speaker for the commencement was Senator Barack Obama, yes the democratic senator who has announced his candidacy for the US President in 2008.

I have heard lot of Advani's speeches but this was the first time I was listening to an American politician live, politicians have some charisma in them which attracts people like magnets.

If you are interested to listen to the speech, here is the video clipping from the commencement,




Also I have uploaded two other clips from the event to you tube, and i am linking them here.

This is the first clip during the announcement, and i am sitting in the crowd of graduates,




and this is the last clip or the closing moment (when the pipers played and you can see in the video obama walking).




Also i was lucky enough to get a very very close picture of him while he was walking past me. (Taken from my cellphone)

During the speech Obama talked about his experiences as a community worker in chicago, there was once an instance when he had to organize a community meeting, after lot of hard work and with lot of expectation that many people would turn up (on his very first assignment to organize one) very few elder women came in to the meeting and they too asked "Where is the bingo gathering?" , if he would have been frustrated in his life then, today he would not be running for the 2008 US Presidency.

Also during the commencement, many speakers were again and again iterating the fact that today is not a day to show that learning has completed in our lives but it just marks the beginning of the initiative.

I should say it has been an overwhelming experience studying in US and if you are a student and if you are reading this never make the mistake of getting in to a job instead of pursuing higher education. Just go for your dreams, someday it will come true like it did for me today.