Portree harbor, Isle of Skye, Scotland


Photos from a hike up on Arthur’s seat in Edinburgh last month.


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%?


While visiting Edinburgh, from whatever little Scottish history I learned, it is clear that the English honed their skill at brutality and colonization on their Scottish brethren for several centuries before setting out to terrorize the World.


Today’s Lock Screen.


Pickling some vegetables from the last CSA share of this year.

Root vegetables pickling in a mason jar.

20231202 hike

Went for a hike this morning on Goodwin_trail and connecting smaller trails.

LIstened to The Long View podcast. Mike Moran from Goldman Sachs talked about retirement readiness. Didn’t learn anything new. There was no real substance in the conversation. Waste of time.

99% Invisible episode about the tomb of unknown soldier was quite interesting. The dead soldier from Vietnam turned out to be not unknown or was known but his identity was intentionally hidden.


I had forgotten that with Nikon SnapBridge app, photos taken on my camera can be transferred automatically to my phone - just like this one. It is such a nice feature!!

Thanks, @pratik for the reminder.


Some photos from today’s hike in the woods.

Mushrooms, mosses and a glacial erratic.












Over the last few years, we enjoyed advent calendars made up of whisky and wine. This year, we will take a break as wife will be away for a week due to work travel and I don’t want to do another such advent calendar by myself.


No surprises here…


Can’t believe the republicans in the house expelled George Santos for being the best of what they all strive to be.


It is December 1st and they have started piping Christmas music in the hallways at work. Now, I am humming it in my office.


Today, I am using a monitor that is not curved and it feels so weird.


When I saw the headline “All trapped Indian workers rescued” I thought the news article was about people going through the U.S. Green card application process. 🤣🤣🤣


As I am using and enjoying my rowing machine a lot this year, I decided to join a challenge to row more than 100kms between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Feels like I’ll be able to cruise through it.


It was cold this morning; the lake is starting to freeze.



The moss is still very green and alive.


It was a great Thanksgiving feast this year. We had an extra unexpected guest but it wasn’t a problem. There is always enough food.

We were so thankful and happy to share this with our family and friends.



A new variation of potatoes this year, Smashed potatoes, was excellent. Everyone liked it.


Our Thanksgiving menu is set and have started prepping several dishes already. Looking forward to Thursday.


Picked up my son at the airport as he came back home for Thanksgiving. He was booked on a late evening flight but he went early to the airport and could get a seat as standby on an early morning flight. Glad he is home before all the Thanksgiving travel craziness begins.