dgeisert

Winter Returns

I had a really good week, despite the weather going back to just above freezing and cloudy.

I went to a new choir on Monday called Ready Singer One. It was much faster paced than West End Musical Choir. The music is a selection of anime and game songs. The focus of the evening was the theme to Attack on Titan, and it was really hard. It is face, starts in German and then changes to Japanese. Singing in another language is really hard, and I’ll need to practice a lot to be able to do it well. I’ve started listening to their audio tracks and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to do get it. I went for a drink afterwards and it was a much more social group that seemed to know each other better. They talked about board games and video games they organised to play together. I look forward to joining in more.

Tuesday I went to the musical Operation Mincemeat, and it was fantastic. I really enjoyed the format of the five players taking on different roles. The music was also really good, with some numbers making me think of SIX and others being more traditional musical theater. The best number for me was the love letter, which was such a touching song.

That evening I went to a museum late at Imperial College, where they had an exhibit on the future of cities. It was interesting, but not as good as other lates, since it wasn’t really a museum to start with. Steph wasn’t able to join because King’s Cross and Euston stations were closed for security reasons for an hour or so right when she needed to travel.

Wednesday morning I went to an AI conference, which was interesting. It was more people in sales and datacenters than the people actually using AI for projects. I still met a number of interesting people there. Wednesday evening, I did the normal choir and joined for dinks afterwards. It was a nice time, and I got to talk to Anton some more.

The rest of the week was chill, and I just worked no a backlog of chores and adulting tasks.

London Weekly 116

March 16, 2025 0

A Preview of Spring

We had a wonderful week of amazing weather. We still needed jackets in the evenings, but during the day you could sit in the sun without being cold. I took advantage of this a few times, with Steph joining me on a walk through the Camley Street Natural Park. Then on the weekend I did a long walk through Regent’s Park.

Otherwise it was a pretty normal week. I had a lot of late meetings at work, and then a lot of meetings about AI outside of work as well.

I finally went to a physio, and everything was healing nicely. I got a new set of movements to do. The lunges are the only ones that still hurt a little.

I went to The Score with Lynne and Steph on Thursday. It was ok, with a really strange flow. I’m not certain what the point they wanted to get across was, and the ending was one of the strangest I’ve ever seen. The main character reminded me of my father, and I imagine he’d see the son character as me.

Friday I met Punit in Walthamstow and we got through a good bit of AI video discussions.

Saturday I hosted people at our place again. I invited the entire complex through the forum, but only one person was able to come. Luckily Craig from choir, Giulio, and Xiaomeng were able to come as well. I had a great time playing Codenames and Tokyo Highway with them. I want to host those kinds of evenings more often. I need a better way of organizing them for communicating what people should bring, or to be more accurate what people should not bring, as everyone is bringing too much.

London Weekly 115

March 16, 2025 0

Morocco 2025

Steph and I met Heidi in Marrakesh on Wednesday. The trip was pretty uneventful, and I wore the boot to make sure nothing happened while travelling.

The city was amazing, and as we flew over we saw some of the mansions on the outskirts with lush grounds and pools. Then there was a lot of dessert surrounding the city as well, and orchards of citrus and olive. We got into the city and the city walls were impressive and still surrounding the city. In all the European cities we’ve been to the walls are either surviving in sections or have many new gates put into them. Here the walls were still acting as walls with very restricted access between parts of the city. There were many gates that were barely one car wide, but had two way traffic.

We got near the hotel, Riad Jalina, driving down busy streets that were one car wide with motorcycles going around the car, and people walking, and shops open right next to the windows. It was chaos, but didn’t feel dangerous. Even when walking around everything tends to move slow enough that even as a motorcycle moves through a busy street crammed with people, if I were to be hit it would probably just be an annoying bump from the handlebars.

We are staying in the Medina and walked all around the markets. There was so much going on and it felt both safe and amazing. Steph and I grabbed lunch on a rooftop and had a great view of the city, with some cats coming by to say hi as well. There were cats all over the streets, and most looked healthy and didn’t care about the people.

Heidi arrived and she and Steph walked around the city some more while I rested. They said they had more people approach them, but that they still felt perfectly safe. Morocco is a much nice place to visit compared to Egypt. The tipping culture is also not much of a thing here, which is nice to not worry with. I have gotten spoiled from not having to deal with it in the UK.

I joined the others at a rooftop for an amazing view of sunset.

The next day we went to a farm that had olives, citrus, race horses, and an assortment of birds. We were there for a cooking class, which turned out really nicely. The surroundings were idyllic and the food was interesting and different in ways I wasn’t expecting. The spices were mostly the ones we knew, but the way of preparing the food was quite different. I’d never peeled and deseeded a tomato before, and wouldn’t even have considered it. The way it gave a concentrated flavor without adding too much moister was interesting and nice. We also learned that they pickle the olives with citrus, which is why we’d been surprised by the taste of the olives in our tagines. They use a mix between a lemon and orange that is very sour but also has a lot of sweet. It gives a unique and pleasant taste to the olives, which is not as strong as the brined olives I’m used to.

Back at the city we went to a hammam and had an amazing exfoliation and massage. I really enjoyed it, and it was a unique experience. They used a substance they called black soap, which has an abrasive in it and smells nice. They also used scrubbers to really get the dead skin off, and it worked really well. I went for the relaxing massage, which was lighter pressure than the ones Steph and Heidi got.

Afterwards we back to the Riad and had a relaxing evening. I stayed in the next day instead of doing the walking tour around Essaouira.

Saturday we took a tour into the Atlas Mountains, where we went to an argan oil production, hiked to a waterfall, walked through a mountain town, and the others rode camels. It was an amazing trip. The argan oil place served us a traditional breakfast with bread, oil, honey, and peanut sauce. Then we went around the production area. Then we headed up to see a local market. It was tight, and there was so much stuff. We got some dates, sweets, and citrus. Then we made it up to the valley where the guide was from. We hiked through an area with lots of canals and snow melt. Much of the snow was still in the shady areas. We hiked up to a nice waterfall and then across the valley for lunch. On the way back Steph and Heidi rode camels, just in a quick circle.

The flight back Sunday was thankfully uneventful, and we got to cuddle kitties all evening.

March 3, 2025 0

Less Hobbling

This week I was still limited in mobility. I went into the office each day, but didn’t do much beyond that Monday and Tuesday.

I met with Punit again on Wednesday, and then we went to lunch in Shoreditch with Nancy and Steph. It was really nice spending time with them.

Thursday was a lot of calls with all sorts of people.

Friday I gave a presentation on image generation to the StartX AI Roundtable, which went over really well. I was nervous as I’m not an expert on training AI, just on using it. I really enjoyed giving the talk, and might do another one on video generation.

I spent most of the weekend working on AI and spending time with Steph.

I’ll attach Monday and Tuesday the following week here, as it wasn’t much going on. People from work were visiting the London office and I spent time with them. I also went to choir at Liverpool St. on Monday, and did some volunteering with StartX on Tuesday.

London Weekly 115

February 26, 2025 0

Hobbling Around

This week I was still dealing with a broken ankle, although I didn’t learn it was broken until later in the week. I just thought it was a bad sprain, which turned out to be mostly true. There was an avulsion fracture, but the recovery instructions was the same as a bad sprain. I was still going into work each day, and I met up with Punit Tuesday morning to talk AI at the Camden library. We went to a nice sandwich spot in St. Pancras afterwards, which is the kind of thing I don’t do nearly enough.

Wednesday I pushed myself too hard in walking to the doctor’s office in Angel, then choir, then to dive club. I ended up with bruises all along my leg from the brace. I really enjoyed choir, but they were actually on time starting for dive club, so I only was there for the last little bit.

I pushed myself more on Friday as I had an x-ray and found out about the fracture. There wasn’t anything they could really do, and I already had a boot.

For valentines I cooked for Steph and I got a bottle of cava.

After the active week on the ankle, I took it easy and went nowhere on the weekend.

On Saturday we had people over for games and dinner. Not many people were able to make it, as I didn’t start planning until Wednesday that week, but Anton and Giulio came over and we had a good time with them. Then Jose and Diana joined and it was a great time. I really enjoyed the game the Diana brought which was like a reverse Jenga, where you have to build a tower without it falling over. We also played a good bit of Codenames, Overcooked, and Drawful.

London Weekly 114

February 26, 2025 0

Caving Adventure

The caving was at the end of the week, to start the week were dealing with buying a flat and selling a house, and all the financial planning that comes with that. I had a call with Jeffs, my brother and Steph’s cousin. It was good to talk to them in both cases. My brother seemed to be doing well, and his suggestions made me think about the power that individuals have related to governments. Then Jeff and Patty gave us great advice on selling our house, and I’m pretty happy with where we are in the process now.

On Wednesday I didn’t get the rush tickets to SIX like I was hoping, but Grace and Carla did. I’ll be trying again, as it is always fun to have the grab bag of options when looking at last minute tickets. I instead went to Steph’s talk on regulators at dive club, and I think people were impressed by her knowledge. They definitely went away with a better understanding of the functions of the regulators. A few were hoping to learn how to take apart and service theirs, and she dashed their hopes when telling them about the required tools to service regs.

Thursday was a lot of calls and meetings, then Friday we headed to Wessex Cave Club in the Medips. We stopped off in south Bristol at a place called Wake the Tiger. It was an amazing immersive experience. I really enjoyed the varied and interesting sets we wandered through. There wasn’t much of a story, but the whole place was fascinating.

We got to the hut as it was starting to snow, and in the morning we woke to a small amount sticking. This meant the caves would be full of the snow melt water, at least in the upper portions.

We went into Swildon’s Hole, a cave within easy walking distance from the hut. It had a lot of water flow, and many amazing waterfalls to climb through. We got to sump 1, a small area of water where you have to pull yourself through on a rope. I was using my training from Mexico where you just ensure that the line is in your hand and then move on your own, but the loose rocks made moving really tough, so I got pushed through by Simon, and pulled by John. The water was 4C so just putting my head in made me really disorientated and shocked. It was a good experience to do my first sump. Steph and Kaz then set up their dive gear and started their dive out to sump 12. I got video of them disappearing into the water of sump 2. We made our way back through sump 1 and I didn’t have issues this time, but still was a little disorientated from cold water plunge. On the way back I twisted my ankle. Thankfully it was right after the really hard part. The group was amazing, with Simon and John immediately changing from recreational mode to cave extraction mode. Simon talked me through the initial pain, and John went ahead to tell the others. I took a few minutes and then we started climbing out. I was going very slow, and needed to be pulled through a few of the trickier spots. I was able to climb the ladder with one foot, being assisted by Simon and John. Alex was new to caving, but he was still helpful on a few of the waterfall climbs that were hard to start. We made it out as another group was heading down. The walk back was so much worse than the climbing, as I didn’t have any way to easily use my arms to take the weight off. I was helped along with my arm over John’s then Ben’s shoulders, but it still hurt a ton to walk through the soft muddy fields.

I raised and iced my foot while Steph was still out of contact diving to sump 12. I hung out with people at the hut and got to talk to Simon, John, and Alex a lot more. Sunday Steph went down to carry out her gear from Saturday. It is pretty normal after a long trip like she did to leave the gear for extraction the next day. After she got back we drove back to London and the kitties.

London Weekly 113

February 10, 2025 0

Fun and Games

Karaoke on Monday with Craig and people from choir was a blast. I left early as I was getting tired quickly, but I still really enjoyed myself.

On Tuesday we went to Walthamstow to have lunch with Punit.

Giulio and I had dinner together then went to choir for the first half of When I Grow Up from Matilda.

On Friday, Steph joined me for breakfast at the congee bar at work. I really enjoyed the discussion with the StartX AI group in the evening, and signed up to do a presentation on video models.

Saturday, Steph and I went to the Taskmaster Live Experience in Canada Water. It was fun, and I felt really good for figuring out the only real puzzle. I ended up winning a golden rubber ducky for being ‘the best of the worst.’ I was happy with it, but don’t need to go back and do the other one. We stopped off afterwards for lunch at the Borough Markets and ate at Mei Mei. I got the duck dish, which is similar to the meal deal I get at Waitrose, just way nicer.

Sunday was chill, and I was sick, so not much beyond book club.

Overall not too much going on this week, but I did make a new music video.

London Weekly 112

February 3, 2025 0

Cat Sitting

I continued cat-sitting henry this week. It was nice just chilling with him. He is very cuddly, but doesn’t like being touched on his back. So I scratched his head and cuddled with him on the couch.

Monday I went to Choir at Liverpool street, and it as great being back in that venue. It is a gorgeous large church with high ceilings and great reverb.

Tuesday, Steph and I continued on our rush tickets experiences with Lightning Thief, based on the book of the same name. It was good, but simple. The cast was really great except for the main actor, but the rest were phenomenal. It was really lighthearted for most of it. For someone who doesn’t know the book it can be a little hard to follow, and the characters don’t get as much development as they probably needed to deliver on the emotional bits. This is especially true of the betrayal moment.

Wednesday I went to the AI Tinkerers meetup. It was nice to hear the talks and see how the different companies in the space are using AI. I plan to make more connections there and see where things go.

Friday I gave blood for the first time in the UK. It was pretty straightforward, but my heart surgery was almost a disqualification. The nurse said it would have disqualified me a year ago. That evening I went to Karaoke in Lucky Voice Soho with Giulio. His friends were stuck because of flooding on a tube line, so it was just him and me for the first hour and a half. After that I just snuck off when everyone else got in, as it was already really late for me.

Saturday I went to the dentist for the first time in the UK, and everything was just fine. That evening we went to the Canary Wharf lights walk and were joined by Radha, Nancy, Punit, and Atlas. It was pretty nice, but we thought the lights weren’t as interesting as the previous two years. This is also the most packed we’ve ever seen it, but it was a Saturday night with decent weather. Punit got reservations at a vegan restaurant, Mallow.

Sunday, Steph and I went to tea at Dalloway Terrace. It was pretty good, and worth it with the discount.

London Weekly 111

February 1, 2025 0

Global Talent Visa!

It was a pretty chill week overall.

Some great news is that I got the global talent visa! This means I’m able to stay in the UK for another year regardless of employment status. It also brings the indefinite leave to remain timeline to the end of this year. I’ll be able to take the life in the UK test and be allowed to stay indefinitely. Steph still has to complete 2 more years past me to take the test and get her independent indefinite leave to remain.

Tuesday I went to the show Faulty Towers, which is based on a 1970’s British sitcom. I had a great time, and it was a fantastically done comedy. I had no base in the show before going and wanted to just see what it would be like without knowing the show at all. There were cheers as the characters came on stage, but they did a good job introducing everything anyway. I had a blast and it was hilarious. I got last minute tickets again, and we were second row. I ended up going with a colleague from work who I met at the theater, and I met him for the first time there. It was interesting talking to him as he’d just moved to London and started working for Meta.

My morning routine is starting to solidify. I’m going to the Camden library regularly now. It is a great space, and just above the gym that Steph and I go to. I do my personal projects at the library, then go downstairs to workout, then head into the office.

This is the first week of the spring term for choir, and I went to a new location for King’s Cross choir. Giulio joined me again, and we walked over from work together after having dinner. I really enjoyed the music this week as it is Wicked. We’ll be finishing it next week, and I’m looking forward to the full sing through together.

We also had a meeting of the dive club, and I joined and had a good conversation with people there. I’m looking forward to an early May trip to Turkey.

Friday at noon we went to the British Library with Radha for the Medieval Women: In Their Own Words exhibit. It had a lot of interesting information, and some amazing documents that we had heard referenced on podcasts about European history. After the exhibit Radha took us by where she used to live, and her favorite Chinese restaurant, which had some great Szechuan dishes, although not quite a magic chili tofu.

Friday evening I had a great call with StartX for AI, and then Steph and I had a deep conversation on our plans going forward, since we got the GTV. I’m really happy to be settling down and looking further ahead in plans.

Saturday I started cat sitting Henry again in Highgate. He is an adorable and decently cuddly kitty, but doesn’t like his back being pet.

We played some V Rising with Michael and Michelle on Saturday evening. I think I should redo my controls for the game since I can’t do some of the most powerful attacks.

Sunday we had a full day. In the morning we went to Eltham Palace again, but got to see the whole palace. Steph was also able to get her hat and scarf that she left last time. We met Pavel there and walked around the house and grounds. It was interesting to see the difference between the great hall, the modern house, and the ruins. It was a gorgeous estate and we wondered what led to it becoming part of the English Heritage group. While wandering the gardens we saw a large and healthy looking fox, which darted away from us and then we saw it wandering the grounds. We got a late lunch with Pavel around Victoria Station at Zizzi, and then I went to take care of Henry.

I met Steph at Carla and Grace’s new place, where we played a karaoke game, and then decided to switch to the Youtube based karaoke experience. I had a great time and really enjoy spending time with the two of them. We had some great deserts and cheeses while singing, as well as some wine for social and vocal lubrication.

London Weekly 110