This book was nice, but a little too anecdotal. The points she makes about happiness are good, but the backing she gives to them isn’t all that great. I understand that this book was meant for a different audience from myself, and it does point in a great direction for getting more information. I just wish there were a book or paper on happiness that was deeply involved, and well backed by scientific studies.
This book was great. The second book was good as well.
The story is really interesting in that the augmented reality is helping people become more potent as individuals. They can be good or bad, but they become more potent. They can also choose to be less involved in things that they do, or more involved. The whole thing being run by a millionaire game developer was pretty cool as well.
I really enjoyed getting back to games night this past Thursday. We didn’t play any really intense games. Just one round of Roll for the Galaxy, and three games of something new: Codewords. We had a great time playing this new game that has a ton of possible optimizations, and meanings. We were able to get a few really good rounds that had people giving 5 and 4 clues. I’m pretty sure we’re going to get it for more social things around the apartment and at Andrew’s.
Stephanie and I went to Whistler in Canada for a weekend of Snowboarding (me) and Skiing (her). We met up with a group of people including Rong, Riley, Emily, and Emily’s family. It was a pretty good time, and we stayed at a rather nice vacation rental.
We took a gondola there that stretches between the two mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb. It was an amazing view, and once we got the glass bottom gondola. Looking down was pretty interesting, and we couldn’t actually stand on the glass.
Stephanie wasn’t terribly comfortable until near the end, and I was pretty rusty myself. There were a lot of points I would have liked to go a bit steeper, but the paths that Steph chose were challenging enough for me. The others were pretty good at the skiing part. The only thing I would really liked to have done is go up to the glacier and snowboard down that. It sounded like the kind of thing I’d really enjoy: huge area that is decently steep. There are a lot more videos that we took with the go pro on my youtube.
Pretty much the entire way there and the entire way back I was using my phone for the Gear VR. It was a really nice way to pass the time while travelling. The only strange part is when the vehicle turns the screen registers it as turning. It might actually be good for motion sick people since the screen responds exactly to the motion.
We had dinner at Andrew’s place Friday night, and it was really good. Debby made a pasta sauce and a green bean dish, both of which were really tasty. Kevin also joined us, and he seemed to be doing much better. Steph and I took our own pasta because she is trying to do the whole 30 diet again. After dinner we played some Exploding Kittens, and I think I figured out the optimal strategy, it is just really hard to hold to when the randomness of the deck is right there.
This was a really hard book for most people in the book club to get through. The only other person that actually finished it was Tina, and she was out for recovering from surgery.
The discussion wasn’t as deep as it could have been because the book itself was a bit off. It had issues of continuity, fact vs. what was made up, and the ambiguity of who the narrator is. I found it really hard to fully understand and pay attention when it was going.
I also found it interesting that when he completely broke down he was describing insanity and nirvana at the same time.
We got to Kochi pretty late and just went straight to the hotel. It was New Years Eve, so we had planned on staying up late and partying. We got there and Lindsay was able to get us into the roof party, despite one woman insisting that it was sold out. Lindsay even got us a discount because the package deal of a room and the party wasn’t on the website.
We had a pretty good night. Lindsay won a dance contest.
The only stop we made was to get some bootlegged alcohol, made from coconut juice. It wasn’t that great and wasn’t from the cleanest of places
I didn’t feel too unsafe because the fermentation process was proceeding cleanly.
We saw a fantastic sunset, and got some much needed sleep in the well sealed cabins. I only got a half dozen bites from the mosquitos, but that is why I was taking anti-malaria pills.
The next morning we went back to Kochi and got a hotel for the time before the flight. We walked along the beach some and got to see them take in the Chinese fishing nets.
Lindsay left at 4pm, so Steph and I grabbed some dinner and a nap before heading off to our flight at 1am.
The flights were really long, and not too bad. Steph and I switched seats halfway through the long flight, and she really didn’t like the middle seat with the broken recliner. I can’t blame her since it was really uncomfortable. I wasn’t able to sleep in it very much, but the window seat she gave me got me a decent amount of sleep. Her parents were there to pick us up when we got back and it was nice of them to make us some soup for dinner. Steph was completely gone the whole ride back, but she managed to stay up until a decently late time.
The flight to India was really long…
It took four flights to get me from Atlanta to Bangalore. I went through Chicago, over the North Pole, through Delhi, through Chennai, and then to Bangalore. I had to go through security at every airport and customs in Chennai. Lindsay met me at the airport and we headed back to the hotel for a nap. A few hours later we went back to pick up Steph as she got in. We had a short night’s sleep, and slept in quite a bit. We eventually checked out an hour late, and grabbed a quick bit of food at the close by McDonalds. We got the Indian versions, made of Aloo and Paneer.
We made it to the next hotel, which was about an hour and change away. We checked in then went to see the town, and get some much needed coffee. We walked a bit around one of the nicer areas and found a Cafe Coffee Day that Lindsay liked. We got our much needed caffeine and then talked through what our plan for the trip was going to be. While walking along the streets we noticed cows just wandering around and standing in the middle of the road. Everyone just went around them. With as crazy as the traffic was, cows weren’t even close to the biggest hazard.
We then went for some really oily massages called ‘Ayurveda’ massage. It was a very interesting and unique experience that I would not want to repeat. The massage wasn’t that unpleasant, but the constant oily feeling afterwards wasn’t great. They do let you shower, but it isn’t western standards. We had a nice Indian meal after that and called it a pretty early night.
The next day we went on a tour of the city, with a really amazing guide. In the morning we went to a snake temple that was built to appease all the snakes that were displaced from the filling in of lakes in Bangalore. They served the most delicious meal we had while we were in India.
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Near the snake temple were sari looms, and they were incredibly loud
Just down the street from there was a well known coffee/tea house, so we stopped by to get a drink
After that we went to the central marketplace. It was very loud with people going everywhere. There were large piles of trash around because someone had not been bribed to take it away. There were so many flowers in the lower area, and Steph got some Saffron, which I was dubious about.
We then went to a Sikh temple and learned a little bit about the Sikh traditions of taking care of the community, which I strongly approve of. Their meals, housing, and education social policies are very good, and are done on a scale that is mostly sustainable. Their religious practices aren’t for me, but the social policies are nice.
We had lunch hosted by a local family that was distantly related to the royal family that once ruled the Bangalore area. They were very nice, and cooked a dish ‘Kofta’ that was delicious. We liked it so much we decided that in the cooking class we were going to be taking later we would have to have that included.
We then headed to the temple to Kali, which was pretty disturbing. They had animal sacrifices, locks to cast curses, and a black cat owned by a transvestite. The whole place wasn’t that scary, just really creepy.
The nexts stop was Pottery Town. This was an area that was known for making pottery, and consisted entirely of a labor caste that converted to Christianity to get out of the caste system. They had a lot of pots everywhere, as well as all sorts of clay figures. We found one room full of nativity characters.
A short drive away was one of the slum areas, which the guide referred to as the nicest slums. The area was mostly buildings with a few tarps here and there. We stopped by an area for women who take trash and weave it into usable products. Lindsay got a day bag there, with Steph and I just donating for a tour of the facility. It was a very interesting area.
Lastly we stopped by Washerman’s Valley an area in almost all Indian cities that has the old style of cleaning clothes. They wring water out of the clothes and beat them against rocks to force out the dirt and oil. This is a very cheap way of getting laundry done, but destroys the clothes pretty quickly.
We called it a night and went to an interesting Mexican restaurant, which was decently good tex-mex.
The next day we headed to the park, followed by a nice cooking class.
Manjus recipes – 1-5-16, 6-44 PM
We then went to the plane to Kochi
I haven’t updated in quite a while, and that is mainly because I was travelling a ton and when I got back there was just too much to do.
Here is a quick summary of the hollidays with the family.
I got home on Tuesday Morning, but needed to get some work done that day. I unfortunately had just worked out how to use a new system at work, and wasn’t proficient at it, so most of my work that day was for naught, and some of it was simply bad. I was able to figure out some of the things to not do, which helped in the long run. I had lunch with my dad at the club, and it was rather nice.
That night we went to a painting class, but didn’t pay attention to the teacher at all, and got way ahead of her. I added in the kitties, and a snowman to the painting.
My painting with Jeff in the background
Jeff’s painting
Dad’s painting
Mom’s painting
The next day I went with my mom to Birmingham to see Nana. Fred, Tila, and Cindy managed to make it as well. Mom had made some really delicious soup, her version of the butternut squash soup. It was different and really tasty. I still think garlic is needed of course.
We went to the Christmas Eve service, and it was OK. It was the same as we had seen before. I really enjoyed being with the family.
Christmas morning we all came down to open presents. Katie showed up a little bit later, and we opened a lot of candy. The largest share was my fault, but there was plenty of candy there that I didn’t bring.
My mom took me to the airport the next day for the flight to India, and the line for security was way out past the concourse.
It's an Exciting World 