I always wanted to do a bike ride on every day of Tour de France. My plan always got foiled because of travel or having guests visiting or some other reason. This year was the first time I was able to ride on all 21 days - mostly outdoor rides (13) but occasionally indoors when the weather was bad or had a long day at work. In total, I rode 436 miles over these days - about 20% of total mileage of TdF. Not bad!

It feels like I am getting a whiplash from constantly switching from “Oh yeah everything is OK” to “Oh no we are fucked” and back on various work and life issues, several times a day. Don’t know how long this can be sustained.

I have been doing a 10 minute morning meditation for a few months. The instructors say a lot of things but, there is one that I found very appealing.

“Ask yourself - how are you and just observe the answer with no judgment or concern or need to change something”.

Never did that before without always thinking of a plan to act on it. I am really enjoying the meditations and feels like they bring clarity to my mind.

People usually say that as a young person, they were idealistic liberal and then turn into crabby old “get off my lawn” kind of conservative as they aged. My experience has been quite the opposite. I was much more conservative when I was young and now I have become a card-carrying liberal.

Finally, after a lot of hemming and hawing for years, signed up to get my genome sequenced and get some ancestry information.

2023 was the first year since 2013 when I did not do a century ride. The longest bike ride for 2023 was 55 miles. Have to plan at least one century ride this year - either sign up for an organized ride or do it by myself.

A look back at 2023

It is a little late but, want to get this post written. 2023 was a very busy and eventful year. It was a major shock for us when my father passed away in April. He was a big presence in all our lives and left a big void but, we have so many happy memories with him that we cherish.

Ad:

  • graduated high school and now a freshman at Davidson College in Davidson, NC; will possibly major in Physics
  • got selected for all the music festivals he auditioned for and also played in the Connecticut Youth Symphony
  • participates in the Davidson College Symphony Orchestra and receives a small scholarship
  • was co-captain of his high school swim team that finished second at ECC championships
  • worked at the pool all summer

    • As:

  • junior at Bowdoin college working towards a double major in Environmental studies and Biology with a minor in English
  • went to University of Edinburgh for study abroad in the fall semester
  • still playing Cello in the college symphony orchestra and a chamber group while at Bowdoin
  • received a research fellowship for Summer to survey invasive plant species at Lyme Land Trust and to help device management strategies for preserved land

    • V:

  • super busy at work; back to some work related travel and now on site for 50% of time
  • continuing on with Peloton bike rides and other exercise challenges

    • Me:

  • cycled more than 3000 miles but, felt like it was much less as there were several breaks; 55 mile tour de lyme was the longest ride of the year; started indoor rowing again and really enjoying it
  • gotten better at using my astronomy equipment and processing workflow; captured some really nice images that I happy with; imaged a supernova in galaxy M101 in May; got to experience an annular solar eclipse in October

    • Vacations:

  • Puerto Rico during Spring break
  • Bar Harbor and Acadia NP in Summer; bike rides, hiking, and the usual good times
  • a week in August at Davidson, NC when we went to drop off Ad; it was a nice (but super-hot) road trip
  • 2 days in San Antonio, TX to view Annular Solar Eclipse
  • a week in Scotland to visit As while she was studying abroad; really enjoyed 3 days in Edinburgh and 4 days in the highlands and Isle of Skye
  • week of winter break in Barcelona; had a good time being in the middle of a city with great restaurants and plenty of activities; a complete opposite compared to calm and serene time in Scotland; was a perfect vacation until we had travel issues on the way home

    • Annular Solar Eclipse; Oct 14, 2023


    Rosette Nebula

    Rowing on Concept2 rower is so enjoyable and have been doing it for the last few months. All this while, I was doing intervals (500m or 1000m followed by 1 min rest, repeat). For the last 2 days, decided to try endurance training. Happy to see that I can hold a moderate pace for 30 minutes and rack up ~6500m. Will continue this for some time before going back to intervals.

    After the pandemic hiatus, my airline traveling picked up significantly during 2023. Went on 4 international and 3 local trips. While flying for these trips, I used good noise-canceling headphones and realized what a big difference they make. The airplane noise over several hours is so exhausting. Eliminating that fatigue from noise, I felt that it was easier to recover from jetlag.

    I was finally able to upload my Twitter archive to my Micro.blog account. This was one of my first few tweets.

    eating chunky monkey

    4/12/2007, 10:09 PM

    Interesting to find that my first response tweet was to @pratik.

    @patrix: aren’t you used to mosquitoes in your Texas swamp? :)

    12/10/2007, 2:31 PM

    Not a surprise, of course! I probably signed up on Twitter because he talked about it. Same reason why I signed up on Micro.blog. 😁😁😁

    Yeah, I have known him for that long and finally had the pleasure to meet in person this year in San Antonio.

    80% Indian or 90%

    After resisting the urge for several years, I finally ordered a ‘23andme’ genome analysis kit on Monday. Then there was news on Tuesday about a data breach at 23andme and data for 7 million users was compromised. I guess I can just return the kit and get my money back.

    OTOH, I am not so sure what someone can do with this information. How can this be misused? This is not access to my financial accounts that someone can use to steal from me. I can imagine the insurance companies or government agencies using it for making benefits decision but, they are probably prohibited from doing that anyway. What am I missing? How can someone use this information saying that I am 80% Indian or 90%?

    25 random things about me

    Don’t remember if I got tagged here or on Facebook, but here we go…

    1. My left index finger was injured 2 years ago while opening a window and it is hurting again as it got colder.
    2. Here is my preference for seasons: Fall, Spring, Winter and Summer. Unfortunately, there is no monsoon where I live, otherwise, that would top the list.
    3. In the past, I used to spend hours on the phone each day gabbing about who knows what and now-a-days, it is hard to go longer than 3 minutes.
    4. I drink at least 3 cups of coffee each day.
    5. I like solving large (500+ pieces) jigsaw puzzles but, haven't done any in the last 6-7 years.
    6. I want to watch "DevD". I never thought that I'd ever say that I "want" to watch a certain hindi movie.
    7. I can walk forever but, can't run even to save my life.
    8. My weight hasn't changed significantly (more than +/- 3 pounds) in the last 10 years.
    9. I am very susceptible to catching colds/coughs but, I never get any other sickness. Also, I never get headaches.
    10. My handwriting has gotten worse progressively over the last decade as I write less and type more.
    11. I'd choose "matakichi usal" and "shikran" with poli over any gourmet meal.
    12. I can live on pizza, popcorn and ice cream.
    13. I am in my extremely late 30's.
    14. I still have a 20/20 vision and don't need any corrective lenses. Hope to continue this forever.
    15. I am always fascinated by the challenge of solving new problems. Tougher the better.
    16. My wife and kids are madly in love with I am cautiously optimistic about Barack Obama.
    17. I really enjoy a cloudy, rainy day.
    18. I like driving. My longest one day trip: about 1200 miles in 22 hours straight. I drove 90% of that.
    19. I am a pescatarian: I eat everything that grows out of the soil or lives under water.
    20. Most of the times, I can recognize the kind of grape from tasting the wine.
    21. I have known some of my friends for more than 34 years.
    22. I wish I was born in 1630's or 1950's.
    23. I have traveled through 40 states in US but, only 7 in India.
    24. After 3 more years, I'd have spent about 50% of my life in USA.
    25. I have 100's of cassette tapes and CDs that I haven't touched in 5+ years.

    New pets

    Recently, V bought a nice gift for Ashwini (and me). It is called, Butterfly Garden. The kit had a coupon to get live caterpillars by mail. They arrived here last Friday. We were all excited to see their life cycle unfold in front of our eyes. Here is Ashwini inspecting them very intently.

    Right now, the caterpillars live in a cup that is sterile because bacterial infection can kill them. The cup has some tiny holes for air and has enough food supply for all five of them. Within 3-4 days, they have grown really large.

    This is so exciting. Can’t wait for them to make their cocoons. V says that sometimes she isn’t sure who she buys some things for: Ashwini or me? This is one of them. :)

    With a loving wife, two wonderful kids, work and house/yardwork, my life is so full that it is bursting at its seams. Wish there were a few more hours every day to play with my toys or just to get some more sleep.

    Yes, she IS my daughter.

    We had a little incident today. Ashwini’s daycare teacher arranged an outing for all her kids and their families at Chuck-E-Cheese. This was our first time at this place. I can’t imagine that I never went to this fun place during my 13-14 years of stay in US.

    On the way there, V took Ashwini and I went later. When I was going in, they stamped my arm with UV-visible ink like they do in nightclubs. I couldn’t figure out what it was all about. Then, V had to leave early to go for a work-related dinner and I stayed back with Ashwini to play for some more time. It was so much fun. All the noisy games and chances to win prizes… I think I had more fun than Ashwini.

    Then, it was time to leave and I figured out what that stamp was all about. The Chuck-E-Cheese people were matching the stamps on the arms of children and adults that were carrying them out. Obviously my stamp didn’t match Ashwini’s and they wouldn’t let me out with her. I kept explaining to them what had happened, but, they wouldn’t listen. I tried calling V, but, I think she probably left the phone in the car. I was quite helpless. Couldn’t think of what to do next. Finally, after much arguing the manager came out. She talked with all of us in the group that were still there and agreed that Ashwini was really my daughter and I wasn’t stealing her. We were finally let out. In a way, it was comforting to see that they are so careful about this. I shall feel safe to go there with Ashwini again.

    My 3rd Father's day

    A’s teacher: Ashwini, what did you do for Father’s day? A: My say happy father’s day to dada. My do drawing on card. My give card to dada.

    • I started off the day with golf at 7:04am. Had my best score of 58 on 9 holes.
    • V made aloo parathas for me.
    • Took a nap with Shwini.
    • Went grocery shopping with Shwini.
    • Spent the evening blowing bubbles with Shwini.
    • Put together my new tool chest in the garage.

    Overall, it was a nice enjoyable Sunday.