So here's to see if I can use this blog and how much inconvenient it is when compared to posting at a site like facebook or google+
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Blogging - the best social networking platform?
My friend Dave Bonta recently said (in the wake of the google+ pseudonym fiasco) if blogging wasn't already the best distributed social network out there before all these closed newfangled social networks came up, and it got me to thinking - why not try to use this blog a bit more frequently?
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Lifestyle
Today on Facebook(via Jennifer Ouellette) , I came across this brutally frank piece from 1999 by Meghan Daum (whose financial woes thankfully seem to be behind her, thanks to a successful book). I shared the link on Facebook as usual, and a comment on it by my friend Jill Smith made me think about what my personal lifestyle fantasy would be similar to what Meghan described in her piece.
My comment elaborating on this came out well enough that I wanted to make a blog post of it, because its tone matched the tone with which I try to write on this blog, and it was blog post length comment too.
*******************
I don't have the Manhattan itch per se, nor an itch for big houses, but I do have the itch for a small place (preferably an apartment) in a walkable University campus neighborhood where I can get by without a car. I do have the itch for some of the kinds of artsy things she talks about, but it's more about enjoying them than collecting them. For example, living in the vicinity of museums, theatres, coffeehouses, alternative film screening theatres, jazz clubs etc. would be good enough to satisfy that itch. I do not care for these things being in a big city either. In fact, I prefer them in a small town setting. Much less pollution and much cheaper all around.
The part that most strongly resonated with me was the impulse to not want money for its own sake, and the desire to not want to have to think about money at all in everyday life. I want to work at a day job just enough that I can get the amount of money that would make me not have to think about money too much. I don't care to work any harder. I have too many other interesting things to spend my time on.
There was a time when I bought into the American idea that your profession ought to be what you life should be around, and you should keep looking until you find the thing that you love to do so much that you wake up every morning wanting to go to work. I spent many years wondering what such a thing would be for me. But luckily for me, the South Asian risk-averse impulse that I grew up with was strong enough that I didn't go down any path in the name of pursuing my dreams that would result in such chronic financial difficulties as she described in this piece. Today, I feel like my decision was the right one, because I can always pursue the things I love on my own time. Plus, there is nothing that could kill your love for something quite like having to do it for a living.
****************
My comment elaborating on this came out well enough that I wanted to make a blog post of it, because its tone matched the tone with which I try to write on this blog, and it was blog post length comment too.
*******************
I don't have the Manhattan itch per se, nor an itch for big houses, but I do have the itch for a small place (preferably an apartment) in a walkable University campus neighborhood where I can get by without a car. I do have the itch for some of the kinds of artsy things she talks about, but it's more about enjoying them than collecting them. For example, living in the vicinity of museums, theatres, coffeehouses, alternative film screening theatres, jazz clubs etc. would be good enough to satisfy that itch. I do not care for these things being in a big city either. In fact, I prefer them in a small town setting. Much less pollution and much cheaper all around.
The part that most strongly resonated with me was the impulse to not want money for its own sake, and the desire to not want to have to think about money at all in everyday life. I want to work at a day job just enough that I can get the amount of money that would make me not have to think about money too much. I don't care to work any harder. I have too many other interesting things to spend my time on.
There was a time when I bought into the American idea that your profession ought to be what you life should be around, and you should keep looking until you find the thing that you love to do so much that you wake up every morning wanting to go to work. I spent many years wondering what such a thing would be for me. But luckily for me, the South Asian risk-averse impulse that I grew up with was strong enough that I didn't go down any path in the name of pursuing my dreams that would result in such chronic financial difficulties as she described in this piece. Today, I feel like my decision was the right one, because I can always pursue the things I love on my own time. Plus, there is nothing that could kill your love for something quite like having to do it for a living.
****************
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Philosophy
I've started reading Bertrand Russell's "The History of Western Philosophy", and the Introduction (where I'm still currently at) has some brutally frank and hilarious parts that had the atheist in me laughing out loud with delight. So I thought I'd share a few snippets:
**************
Is there a way of living that is noble and another that is base, or are all ways of living merely futile?
**************
Why, then, you may ask, waste time on such insoluble problems? To this one may answer as a historian, or as an individual facing the terror of cosmic loneliness.
**************
Science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive to many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand, induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge where in fact we have ignorance, and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the universe.
***************
Uncertainty, in the presence of vivid hopes and fears, is painful, but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales.
***************
**************
Is there a way of living that is noble and another that is base, or are all ways of living merely futile?
**************
Why, then, you may ask, waste time on such insoluble problems? To this one may answer as a historian, or as an individual facing the terror of cosmic loneliness.
**************
Science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive to many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand, induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge where in fact we have ignorance, and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the universe.
***************
Uncertainty, in the presence of vivid hopes and fears, is painful, but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales.
***************
Friday, April 29, 2011
Turtle Island
To take a breather from Gary Snyder's prose, and the extreme reactions (both positive and negative) that it keeps triggering in me, I decided to read some of his poetry instead.
I'm halfway through the book of poems titled "Turtle Island", and thought I'd share some of my favorite snippets:
****************
How did a great Red-tailed Hawk
come to lie-all stiff and dry-
on the shoulder of
Interstate 5?
(From "The Dead by the Side of the Road")
****************
I would like to say
Coyote is forever
Inside you.
But it's not true.
(From "The Call of the Wild")
******************
Manzanita the tips in fruit,
Clusters of hard green berries
The longer you look
The harder they seem
"little apples"
(From "Manzanita")
*******************
It warms my bones
say the stones
(From "The Uses of Light")
*******************
A vast vague white
Draws me out of the night
Says the moth in his flight-
(Also from "The Uses of Light")
*********************
squirrel bones crunched,
tight and dry in scats of
fox.
(From "On San Gabriel Ridges")
***********************
And finally, an entire poem - this funny and delightful one is called "The Wild Mushroom"
Well the sunset rays are shining
Me and Kai have got our tools
A basket and a trowel
And a book with all the rules
Don't ever eat Boletus
If the tube-mouths they are red
Stay away from the Amanitas
Or brother you are dead
Sometimes they're already rotten
Or the stalks are broken off
Where the deer have knocked them over
While turning up the duff
We set out in the forest
To seek the wild mushroom
In shapes diverse and colorful
Shining through the woodland gloom
If you look out under oak trees
Or around an old pine stump
You'll know a mushroom's coming
By the way the leaves are humped
They send out multiple fibers
Through the roots and sod
Some make you mighty sick they say
Or bring you close to God
So here's to the mushroom family
A far-flung friendly clan
For food, for fun, for poison
They are a help to man.
*********************
I'm halfway through the book of poems titled "Turtle Island", and thought I'd share some of my favorite snippets:
****************
How did a great Red-tailed Hawk
come to lie-all stiff and dry-
on the shoulder of
Interstate 5?
(From "The Dead by the Side of the Road")
****************
I would like to say
Coyote is forever
Inside you.
But it's not true.
(From "The Call of the Wild")
******************
Manzanita the tips in fruit,
Clusters of hard green berries
The longer you look
The harder they seem
"little apples"
(From "Manzanita")
*******************
It warms my bones
say the stones
(From "The Uses of Light")
*******************
A vast vague white
Draws me out of the night
Says the moth in his flight-
(Also from "The Uses of Light")
*********************
squirrel bones crunched,
tight and dry in scats of
fox.
(From "On San Gabriel Ridges")
***********************
And finally, an entire poem - this funny and delightful one is called "The Wild Mushroom"
Well the sunset rays are shining
Me and Kai have got our tools
A basket and a trowel
And a book with all the rules
Don't ever eat Boletus
If the tube-mouths they are red
Stay away from the Amanitas
Or brother you are dead
Sometimes they're already rotten
Or the stalks are broken off
Where the deer have knocked them over
While turning up the duff
We set out in the forest
To seek the wild mushroom
In shapes diverse and colorful
Shining through the woodland gloom
If you look out under oak trees
Or around an old pine stump
You'll know a mushroom's coming
By the way the leaves are humped
They send out multiple fibers
Through the roots and sod
Some make you mighty sick they say
Or bring you close to God
So here's to the mushroom family
A far-flung friendly clan
For food, for fun, for poison
They are a help to man.
*********************
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Slower
Today, I happened to come here to this (very) dormant blog of mine after a long time, and was surprised by something. It happened when I clicked on the "About" tab to re-read what I had written about myself.
I am normally never happy with anything I wrote in the past. Later re-readings of earlier writings rarely fail to be cringe-inducing. Yet, what I had written about myself sounded surprisingly fresh, succinct, straightforward and honest.
This could be because I haven't yet reached that place where I've done all the things I said I wanted to do, although I've done some of them. Or it could be that since the way I had envisioned this blog was as a quiet place, my not so quiet persona on facebook might have made me long for the quieter side of my personality as described by those words.
Perhaps this is a good sign. Maybe a bit of quiet, and an attempt to cultivate it, might make me write longer pieces. Facebook has a lot going for it in terms of interaction, but I am not the kind of person who can do both short facebook interactions as well as long blog posts at the same time (although many of my blogger friends seem to do this quite easily).
I'm more of a one phase at a time kind of guy, and I feel the onset of a slower, longer kind of phase.
I am normally never happy with anything I wrote in the past. Later re-readings of earlier writings rarely fail to be cringe-inducing. Yet, what I had written about myself sounded surprisingly fresh, succinct, straightforward and honest.
This could be because I haven't yet reached that place where I've done all the things I said I wanted to do, although I've done some of them. Or it could be that since the way I had envisioned this blog was as a quiet place, my not so quiet persona on facebook might have made me long for the quieter side of my personality as described by those words.
Perhaps this is a good sign. Maybe a bit of quiet, and an attempt to cultivate it, might make me write longer pieces. Facebook has a lot going for it in terms of interaction, but I am not the kind of person who can do both short facebook interactions as well as long blog posts at the same time (although many of my blogger friends seem to do this quite easily).
I'm more of a one phase at a time kind of guy, and I feel the onset of a slower, longer kind of phase.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Oven-baked Mutton
Here's the recipe for the oven-baked mutton we made a couple days back. Minal made up this recipe on the fly. So I just made up the measurements for the ingredients as I went along. I'll give them here as it turned out pretty good, but treat them as approximate and adjust to your taste.
What you need, and what to do with it:
Mutton (1 lb) [Doesn't have to be mutton. I used New Zealand lamb from Whole Foods, although Indian recipes normally use goat meat and call it mutton.]
1) Cut the mutton into half-inch to one-inch cubes.
To marinate:
Ginger chopped/minced (1 tblspn)
Garlic chopped/minced (1 tblspn)
Cilantro leaves chopped (2 tblspns)
Salt (to taste)
Cumin powder (1/3 tspn)
Coriander powder (1/3 tspn)
Garam masala (1/3 tspn)
Red chilli powder (1/3 tspn)
2) Add all the above ingredients to the cut mutton pieces and marinate for half an hour.
To make the gravy:
Oil (2 tblspns)
Red onion chopped (1 small)
Tomato chopped (1 medium)
Mustard seeds (1/2 tspn)
Cumin seeds (1/2 tspn)
Turmeric (1 pinch)
Salt (to taste)
Garam masala (1/3 tspn)
Red chilli powder (1/3 tspn)
Cilantro leaves unchopped (I took leaves from half the bunch, but it's totally upto you. You can add them with the stems as well)
3) Heat oil in a wok. After it is hot enough to sizzle mustard, add the mustard seeds, quickly followed by cumin seeds, and then the chopped onion.
4) Allow the onion to turn transluscent (minute or two) and add the chopped tomato.
5) Cover and cook until tomato turns mushy (3 to 4 minutes)
6) Add the salt, garam masala, red chilli powder and cilantro. Mix well. Cover and cook for 1 minute.
7) Turn off heat. Set aside the gravy and allow it to cool. Once it is cool enough, use a food processor to blend it to a fine paste. Add a little water if it is too thick. Set aside.
To pre-cook the mutton:
Oil (3 tblspns)
8) Heat the oil in a flat frying pan and add the marinated mutton pieces.
9) Cook on medium-high for 3 minutes, turning the pieces midway through.
10) Cover and cook on low-medium for 7 minutes, turning the pieces midway through.
11) Turn off heat. Add the blended gravy. Mix well. Cover the pan back and set aside.
To bake the mutton:
Red Potato(es) (1 or 2 medium-sized)
Oil (1 tblspn)
12) Peel the potatoes. Cut each potato into half lengthwise. Rest the flat side of each half on cutting board and chop into semicircular cross-sections around 1/2 cm thick (This is the best way of cutting them. Any other shape, and they wouldn't form a good flat base layer. If slices are thinner, they stick
to the baking pan and turn to mush)
13) Preheat the oven to 375 F
14) Add the oil to a baking pan and spread evenly with a basting brush.
15) Add the potato slices as the base layer. Add the pre-cooked mutton and blended gravy mix as the next layer.
16) Seal the baking pan with aluminium foil (or its own cover if it has a cover) and bake in the over for 40 to 45 minutes. There is no need to punch holes for the steam. The aluminium foil won't really be that airtight.
17) Switch off the oven and take the baking pan out (make sure you wear mitts) and cool for 10 to 15 minutes without removing the foil/cover.
18) Remove foil/cover and taste a piece. If any chewiness left (unlikely), cover back, restart oven, and bake for 10 additional minutes. Make sure to again cool it covered for 10 to 15 minutes before opening the cover.
To enjoy the mutton:
19) Grab a fork. Dig in.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Facebook and Privacy
I just changed my name in my facebook profile so that my real last name is no longer displayed against my account.
In retrospect, maybe I should've started out on facebook that way.
It's not like I really care to keep my online activities hidden from people that know me in my personal life outside of work. I'm hardly shy about my opinions or viewpoints that way.
But at the same time, I don't want random google searches by potential employers or people in other similar positions of authority to grant or deny me any opportunities I seek to be able to see all the things I say and do online.
Which is why this (albeit nearly defunct) blog does not have a reference to my real last name. Nor does my twitter account.
The only reason I went with my real last name on facebook is because facebook has promised me privacy. A trust that they have been slowly and calculatedly eroding.
I've finally come to realize that facebook will keep on making these "public unless you opt out" changes and not everyone would be diligent enough or even care enough to keep opting out.
So in order to keep interacting with my friends on their pages, photos, etc., I've realized that I have to start acting like all those pages would be public just like the rest of the open internet.
The other option is to stop using facebook. I'm not interesting in that. It is a very engaging forum, and I've come to enjoy it. I've managed to reconnect with a lot of old childhood friends, and family too.
So the middle ground is to get back to being quasi-pseudonymous. Even on facebook, just like I am on the rest of the internet. Any old friend searching for me can easily find me via one of my current friends. They really don't need to search for me by my real last name.
Also, finally I can do something I wished I could've done, but didn't so far - create a link to my facebook profile on the sidebar of this blog so that anyone who comes across this blog and wants to connect on facebook can look me up there too.
In retrospect, maybe I should've started out on facebook that way.
It's not like I really care to keep my online activities hidden from people that know me in my personal life outside of work. I'm hardly shy about my opinions or viewpoints that way.
But at the same time, I don't want random google searches by potential employers or people in other similar positions of authority to grant or deny me any opportunities I seek to be able to see all the things I say and do online.
Which is why this (albeit nearly defunct) blog does not have a reference to my real last name. Nor does my twitter account.
The only reason I went with my real last name on facebook is because facebook has promised me privacy. A trust that they have been slowly and calculatedly eroding.
I've finally come to realize that facebook will keep on making these "public unless you opt out" changes and not everyone would be diligent enough or even care enough to keep opting out.
So in order to keep interacting with my friends on their pages, photos, etc., I've realized that I have to start acting like all those pages would be public just like the rest of the open internet.
The other option is to stop using facebook. I'm not interesting in that. It is a very engaging forum, and I've come to enjoy it. I've managed to reconnect with a lot of old childhood friends, and family too.
So the middle ground is to get back to being quasi-pseudonymous. Even on facebook, just like I am on the rest of the internet. Any old friend searching for me can easily find me via one of my current friends. They really don't need to search for me by my real last name.
Also, finally I can do something I wished I could've done, but didn't so far - create a link to my facebook profile on the sidebar of this blog so that anyone who comes across this blog and wants to connect on facebook can look me up there too.
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