Tag: Life

What I’m currently listening to: 65daysofstatic

No Man’s Sky came out recently. While I don’t intend to play the game (I own an XBox One, which I haven’t really used for the past 3-4 months) I heard very good things about the soundtrack that 65daysofstatic put together for the game and decided to give it a listen. It is sublime. My appreciation for the music grew even more after I learned how the album was created.

Quotes: July Edition

I wrote a blog post talking about how I write down lines from books I’m reading. Here are some lines that I loved from books that I read in July:

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. — Mother Night

No one has mastered the art of life. Everyone is just stumbling in the dark. — Here

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety. — Foundation

To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well. — Foundation

Memories sting when they come suddenly. — Foundation

Goal Tracking: July Edition

At the beginning of the year I published a post outlining what some of my goals for the year were. In the spirit of being transparent, here is the progress I made on them over the course of July –

  1. Was there for everyone who needed me for most of the month.
  2. Volunteered for 0 hours.
  3. Quite a bit of procrastination.
  4. Honest and open. As always.
  5. Made some good progress on learning Rust! I wrote about it here and here.
  6. I read four books over the course of July: Mother Night (another amazing book by Kurt Vonnegut), Here (I LOVED the artwork in this graphic novel. I wish it had a better story though), DC/Dark Horse: Aliens (an action-packed, fun read), and Foundation (This is the first Asimov book I’ve read and I loved it! It was quite unlike any other sci-fi book I’ve ever read, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this classic series).
  7. I read 2 research papers: Disruptor and COST. I’ll be writing about them soon.
  8. I wrote 8 posts.
  9. I learned to play at least one song on the guitar. Minus the solo.
  10. (a) (goal achieved)
    (b) (goal achieved)
    (c) (goal achieved)
    (d) I ran the first half of the SF Marathon!
    (e) (goal achieved)

Electron

I’ve found myself listening to electronic music more often these days. I’ve found that it makes for quite good coding music. And writing music too.

Here’s a subset of what I’ve been listening to:

  • Jake Bowen is the guitarist for Periphery (one of my favorite bands; I have VIP tickets to see them in August). He also makes amazing electronic music.

  • Tycho. He’s from San Francisco!

  • It’s hard to classify the genre of music The Algorithm plays. All I know is that I really like it.

  • Com Truise made a single with Deftones (another favorite band of mine; I’m very excited to see them in August)

Change

We are halfway through 2016, and already this year has been full of big changes for me on several levels.

After nearly 3 years (including my Summer internship) at LinkedIn I left the company and joined Uber in May 2016.

“There are three things we cry for in life: things that are lost, things that are found, and things that are magnificent.” — Douglas Coupland

I cried on my last day at LinkedIn. And it was because of those three things that Douglas mentioned (and perhaps more): I had to say goodbye to some great coworkers, I found amazing friends while at LinkedIn, and the entire experience of working for LinkedIn was magnificent.

All that being said I love my new job at Uber and am extremely happy at this company!

I’m more fit than I was at the beginning of 2016.

I started lifting more seriously around February 2016 and definitely feel stronger. In the past I used to focus on a few specific body parts while ignoring/not really caring about the others. I made a conscious effort to change this and can already see/feel the benefits. The blisters on my palms have only gotten worse though :(.

I’ve started running more as well. I’ve gone from struggling to run 3 miles at the beginning of 2016 to being able to run 8 miles (my longest run was 10 miles on 07/06/2016) without any problems. This wouldn’t have been possible without the changes I made to my diet.

My love, appreciation, and respect for my family and friends has increased. Thank you for everything. You mean the world to me. I’m incredibly lucky to have people like you in my life.

In April 2016 I decided to become an atheist. Prior to that I was a Hindu. It took a lot of thinking and self-reflection for me to make this decision, and I don’t think I’m quite ready to talk about it publicly on this blog yet. If you’re interested in why I made this change feel free to message me or talk to me in person.

I’ve started using hair styling products. Because why not? 🙂

Quotes: June Edition

I wrote a blog post talking about how I write down lines from books I’m reading. Here are some lines that I loved from books that I read in June:

She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. — Contact 

It’s in the code — there’s a method called clay_is_awesome. I assume every programmer writes one of those. — Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

This sounds very interesting to me, but mostly because this girl is very interesting to me. — Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

“They’re not magic. They’re only as capable as their programmers, right?” — Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

The most vital things we hide even from ourselves. — Fortune Smiles

“Toucan cereal.” — Fortune Smiles

There are many challenges to long distance running, but one of the greatest is the question of where to put one’s house keys. — The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

“He knows she isn’t perfect. She knows he definitely isn’t perfect. They know there’s no such thing as perfect.” — The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

It strikes him that it is odd to have to use the thing that may not be working to consider the thing that isn’t working. — The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

In the end, we are collected works. — The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Goal Tracking: June Edition

At the beginning of the year I published a post outlining what some of my goals for the year were. In the spirit of being transparent, here is the progress I made on them over the course of June –

  1. Was there for everyone who needed me.
  2. Volunteered for ~2 hours.
  3. A tiny bit of procrastination.
  4. June 2016 was probably the most honest and open I’ve ever been in my life. I expressed my feelings without holding back in the slightest.
  5. No progress made on learning Rust. Sigh.
  6. I read four books over the course of June: Contact (an exquisite sci-fi masterpiece), Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (I was smiling the entire time and didn’t want this book to end), Fortune Smiles (enjoyed all but one of the stories in this book), The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (I LOVED THIS BOOK. It is definitely one of my favorite books of all time).
  7. I read 3 research papers: MillWheel, TensorFlow, and Wide & Deep Learning for Recommender Systems.
  8. I wrote 5 posts.
  9. I learned to play 0 new songs on the guitar. That’s two months now without any guitar playing progress. I need to rectify this.
  10. (a) (goal achieved)
    (b) (goal achieved)
    (c) (goal achieved)
    (d) I started training for the SF half marathon.
    (e) (goal achieved)

What I’m currently listening to: Gojira and Radiohead

Magma and A Moon Shaped Pool, the newest albums by Gojira and Radiohead respectively, are spectacular. They’re all I’ve been listening to for the past few days.

Both deal with the topics of love and separation, though in completely different musical styles. And more importantly, in subtly different (yet oh so similar) interpretations of these two concepts.

These albums hug your heart.

Goal Tracking: May Edition

At the beginning of the year I published a post outlining what some of my goals for the year were. In the spirit of being transparent, here is the progress I made on them over the course of May –

  1. Was there for everyone who needed me.
  2. Zero volunteering. Sigh.
  3. No procrastination!
  4. Continued my trend of always being honest and open.
  5. No progress made on learning Rust. I really need to work on this.
  6. I read three books over the course of May: Snow Crash (I enjoyed portions of the book, but overall I thought it was OK), God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (LOVED IT. I wish it were longer), Here’s Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math (I bought this book in 2014 and have been reading it in bits and pieces ever since. It’s a wonderful book. As a person who loves mathematics, reading this book was delightful)
  7. I read 1 research paper.
  8. I wrote 1 post.
  9. I learned to play 0 new songs on the guitar.
  10. (a) (goal achieved)
    (b) (goal achieved)
    (c) (goal achieved)
    (d) I started training for the SF half marathon.
    (e) (goal achieved)