Beijing, China 10/11/05 - Two new emissaries arrived in China last Friday to increase international relations with the United States and India. During their yearlong stay, Meg and Lucas Natraj plan to share with the Chinese people their love of technology, fondness for film, and zany approach to life in general. Eventually, the pair will return to the United States (or some other undetermined nation) with a broader view of China, East Asia, and the world at large.

Their journey actually began a week earlier, on October 1, when they drove from their previous home in Austin, Texas to Franklin, Indiana, Meg Natraj’s birthplace, and current family home. There they deposited their two feline companions and made final preparations for the trip abroad. A few days later, the two boarded a plane for Chicago, Illinois, where they planned to connect to an outbound flight to Beijing. After nearly a five-hour delay, 60 overbooked passengers, and a single upgrade to business class, the final leg of the trip was underway. Halfway through the flight, the occupation of the coveted business-class seat was transferred for a few hours from Lucas Natraj to Meg Natraj, who was still assigned to a seat in economy. This afforded them each a chance to get some much-needed quality sleep in the fully reclining, extremely comfortable business seat.

Upon reaching Beijing, the two collected their obscene amount of luggage and stumbled out of the airport. Despite recent changes to reduce the luggage allowance on US carriers’ international flights, the couple was still able to carry most of their belongings with them, since their tickets were purchased the day before the new change went into effect. In addition to their 280 pounds of personal luggage, they also carried two large boxes containing the computers they use at work and a few remarkably heavy carryon bags. At the airport exit, a representative from the realty company met them and managed, through some feat of puzzle-solving genius, to fit 2 enormous boxes, 4 large pieces of luggage, assorted laptops and carryon bags, himself, a driver, and 2 tired ex-patriots into a small minivan. At this point, the couple was able to confirm that their realtor had succeeded in negotiating an apartment for them, and that they were indeed on their way home.

In the days since, the couple has begun settling into their apartment, shopping for various household items, and commuting to work, all with a great deal of much-appreciated help from their various friends and colleagues already living in Beijing.

For more details about MegDesk life in China, visit the MegDesk Beijing page!

06/15/05 - MegDesk editors Lucas and Meg Natraj were featured in the cover story for the USAToday Life section on Wednesday. The article, a piece about couples with more than one wedding ceremony, led with the story of the couple's separate legal wedding and included a large copy of one of their wedding pictures and the photo strip they took in a mall photo booth after their legal ceremony.

Meg Natraj was put in touch with the USAToday reporter by an editor at the wedding planning site TheKnot.com. During spare moments, she would occasionally visit the site's planning boards, where she shared experience and advice about various do-it-yourself wedding projects. In late May, Natraj happened on a post by one of the editors asking for experiences with multiple wedding ceremonies. On a whim, she sent the editor an email with a few details about their separate legal marriage ceremony.

A few days later, Natraj received a reply from the Knot editor, asking for permission to pass along the information to a USAToday reporter. Natraj agreed, and the reporter contacted her for a telephone interview.

The finished article ran as the cover story on Wednesday, June 15, and a photo of the Natraj couple even appeared on the front page of the Life section on the website, where the text of the article was also published.

The couple bought a few copies of the paper that morning and brought one to work, where everyone was very excited to see the story. One fellow employee, who was out on sick leave that day, even phoned Meg Natraj at work to let her know that he'd happened to see the story in the paper.

Austin, TX 04/06/05 - Following her late-afternoon hair appointment, Meg Natraj was seeing red every time she looked in the mirror. However, she was far from upset with her new look, and was thrilled her hair's new red color.

Prior to this occasion, she had been fairly inexperienced in the world of hair color. Afraid to damage her once-long locks, she had steered clear of the chemical treatments. The only time she had risked dye was for a temporary color job in college when she darkened her brown hair slightly. The gentle dye lasted through less than a week of shampooing.

After studying dozens of inspiration photos both in hairstyle magazines and online, Natraj decided to adjust her light brown hair to a darker chocolate brown and to add scattered wine red highlights. Armed with a few sample pictures, she headed to the salon, where the work began. A few hours later, she stepped out into the sun with her new red highlights.

Unlike the drastic change in length a few months before, not many people noticed the color difference. Though the change was less noticeable inside, outside in the sun, it was much more significant.

Natraj is enjoying her new red hair, although some of her cosmetics no longer match her altered complexion. "The only downside," she says, "is that I can't wear any of my old shades of lipstick!"

Austin, TX 03/25/05 - It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a shot rang out. Lucas and Meg Natraj chuckled at the television, as Leslie Nielson cracked another joke in Wrongfully Accused.

As the sound of the rain increased to a deafening level, the couple paused the movie, and stepped out on the patio to watch the storm. The noise grew quickly as small pieces of hail flew through the air along with the torrent of rain. Hoping to see the rainfall better in the lights of the apartment complex, Meg headed through the apartment to the front door.

She started down the building's steps, and everything went dark. The only remaining light was a small red glow from the Exit sign upstairs, which was quickly fading as the building's outer doors swung closed. Meg let out a small shriek and hurried back upstairs and into the apartment.

Back inside, the couple lit a variety of candles and an oil lamp while they searched for flashlights. Meg curled up next to the oil lamp to read a book, until Lucas suggested they go for a movie while the power was out. The lights across the canyon proved that it was only their immediate neighborhood that was left in the dark. Checking the listings on Meg's cell phone, the couple chose a film, extinguished the candles, and grabbed a flashlight to head to the car.

By the time they returned from the movie, the power had been restored. According to the time blinking on the bedroom alarm clock, it had stayed out for around half an hour after the couple had given up waiting.

Austin, TX 01/28/05 - After a year of deliberation and procrastination, Meg Natraj stepped out of a local Austin salon with her head in her hands - her head of hair, that is. The plastic shopping bag she carried contained an eleven-inch braid of her golden brown hair, ready to be donated to Locks of Love.

The next week at work, Natraj was able to get a brief outsider's look at her office, when her coworkers failed to recognize her with short hair. Many remarked that it took them a moment to realize who she was, but some took even longer than most. For instance, when she knocked on the door of a good friend's office, he looked up confused and asked, "Can I help you?" He only made out who she was after she began talking to him.

A week later, once most friends had become used to Natraj's new look, she began to experiment with different styles. Inspired by the ever-changing disguises of Agent Bristow in Alias, nearly every week brought a new look. From large straight chunks to wispy curled ends, Natraj began to realize how much more versatile the shorter length was. However, she also found it much harder to create a formal look. "Sometimes I really miss being able to put it up," Natraj said, "but it's certainly more fun!"

Volcano, HI 12/22/04 - Kilauea, Hawaii's famous tourist-friendly volcano, has begun to fight back against the endless stream of tourists that comes to gawk at the fiery mountain. Waging a clandestine war against its unsuspecting human visitors, Kilauea chose to strike out at Lucas and Meg Natraj, an unsuspecting couple visiting the volcano from Austin, Texas.

The two decided to visit the volcano during their holiday trip to the Big Island. Taking all the necessary precautions, they began the three-mile hike over the lava field to reach the current surface flow. Water, flashlights, and cameras in hand, the two stumbled over the uneven new rock. Having heard the lava rock composition described many times as "glass like basalt," the two weren't surprised to hear and feel it crumbling beneath their feet.

After a half mile of walking, Lucas Natraj stopped and bent over to look closer at the rock. Testing its brittleness, he broke some off in his hand, surprised at the ease with which it came apart. The two broke apart a few more pieces of rock before Lucas Natraj noticed his fingers were bleeding. The tiny fibers of the rock sliced through the skin without any feeling, so neither noticed. Of all the materials they'd read, none had mentioned the seemingly obvious advice of not touching the lava.

This came back to haunt them again on the walk back from the surface flow, when Meg Natraj stopped to take a photograph of the glowing lava on the nearby hillside. Balancing her camera on a nearby lava pillar for a long exposure, she slipped and sliced up her leg and arm on the lava. Though the scrapes were not deep, they served as a clear warning for the visitors they passed, who were foolishly heading out across the dark lava field with no flashlights.

Kilauea's final act of revenge surfaced the next day. Lucas Natraj began complaining of what felt like a small speck in his eye. Despite frequent rinsing of his eye with saline solution and Visine, the discomfort had still not dissipated by the following day. The couple decided to try to find an eye doctor open on Christmas Eve and was luckily able to squeeze into the last open appointment slot at the nearby Wal-Mart optometrist's office.

Upon examination, the doctor explained that Natraj suffered from a corneal ulcer. The acid in the air had somehow become trapped under his contact lens and absorbed by his eye. Natraj's wife had also worn her contacts at the volcano site, but luckily she was unaffected. The treatment for the ulcer consisted of a prescription for eye drops and instructions not to wear a contact lens in that eye for the next few weeks. This proved extremely inconvenient, as Natraj did not have a pair of glasses to wear instead. Calling their eye doctor in Austin to get the prescription for a rush pair, the couple found out that he was in Houston for the holiday and unfortunately couldn't help them.

Apparently, Meg and Lucas Natraj were not Kilauea's only victims that week. Upon talking with the local optometrist, they learned that this was already the third corneal ulcer he'd treated that morning. Despite the many warnings in the Hawaiian guidebooks, as long as she continues erupting, Kilauea will continue fighting off her torrent of visitors.

Austin, TX - Tired of his lackluster appearance, Charlie the Computer was ready for a change. Earning his living as a high-performance gaming machine, Charlie felt overlooked in a world of UV-reactive components and flashy LEDs. "I know that inside, I'm a smart, powerful machine," Charlie said, "but I feel that's hidden inside my case. I just want my outside appearance to match my inside computing power." To make Charlie's dream come true, MegDesk arranged for a team of computer enthusiasts to step in and set to work.

The first step was to open Charlie up and clean up the extra fat. Moving cords and cables around, the team was immediately able to see a drastic improvement. The extra cording was moved from Charlie's midsection into some of his drive bays, which had previously lacked fullness.

Once this was done, work began to replace Charlie's sagging, unsightly IDE cables. "Rounded cables will provide for better circulation, and will improve Charlie's overall lifespan," said Lucas Natraj, one of the stylists involved in the process. The team chose a pair of rounded IDE cables wrapped in glowing EL cable to add interest to the wiring.

To control the other wires, the team installed UV-reactive cable ties. Additionally, they replaced two of the more visible Molex cables with a UV-reactive splitter to help cut down on the visibility of plain wires near the front of the machine's body. The unused card slots on Charlie's motherboard also received a UV makeover with the installation of plastic slot protectors. Once these were in place, the makeover artists positioned a black light in a hidden recess near the case floor, illuminating the UV-reactive components and adding even more color.

Finally, Charlie chose to have his natural case fan removed and replaced with one sporting four different colors of LEDs. The blue LEDs in Charlie's case and power remained in place, after the reconstruction, providing a subtle blue glow over the areas unlit by the new elements.

In addition to the cosmetic work, the team also installed a powerful green tube light inside Charlie's case to facilitate later internal construction. The power switch, used to control the light, is accessed through the aluminum plate on one of the front drive bays, where Natraj drilled a small hole to install it. "This way," Natraj said, "the light doesn't have to be on all the time, and you don't have to open [Charlie] up to access it."

Thrilled with his new look, Charlie has been eager to get back to the gaming community, and has recently been spotted in the worlds of Far Cry and Half Life 2. When asked about plans for continued cosmetic surgery, Charlie said that he was considering having LEDs installed in some of his Molex connections and was currently looking into LED heat spreaders for his RAM.