Weeknote 43 – Reunions and Winter travels

A glimpse of the past week and the few articles, podcasts, tools, videos and music that captivated my attention:

Most of this week was spent planning the next few months and chalking out various things we had to line-up. We’re super excited that Shasta will soon be able to experience the cold a bit and that we’d be able to take her on some long outdoor hikes in the snow.

She’s turning one soon and we plan to keep her birthday celebration low-key. Probably a good breakfast out somewhere with the family. She’s now becoming super communicative – pointing with the forefinger if she needs something or wants to know what it is. At this point we’re convinced ‘Ka’s her first word. Probably inspired by the crows by the pool, which absolutely fascinate her!

Early next month, I am facilitating a visit of a group of about 50 kids to Kochi and Munnar. The activity line-up looks pretty cool and I am super excited to be back in the thick of it with a different pair of boots!

On Friday, Meena and I met a friend of mine from Infosys. We’d organized a ton of team-building activities together when we were on the same team. She was a fire-craker beaming with positivity when we worked together and one of the reasons I thoroughly enjoyed working in Infosys. Nothing much has changed since then! She was visiting her family in Chennai and I’m so glad we were able to catch-up!

We were pretty much rained in through the week, (and S and I did get a bit lazy) so running did take a hit. Was a great swim weak though! ~30 min. swim sessions each on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and a 20k bike ride on the aerofit recumbent bike on Friday.

Of other notable events this week – A first of a kind: Meena, S and I were interviewed on the same panel; Joined the Columbia Alumni folks here in Chennai for an early evening meet and a family friend who is currently preparing for his GMAT texted saying the resources I had pointed him to were super useful.

Interesting tools this week:

• Allsides: A portal that intends to produce balanced-view news across the political spectrum.
• Ramblr: Record, track and share outdoor activities

Interesting podcasts this week:

• Planet MoneyEpisode 945: The Liberty City Creation of Von Ormy city in Texas. A one of  kind city with minimal taxes and regulations.

• The Dirtbag Diaries: The 50,000 Ft. View Back to the Dirtbag diaries after a while and this podcast on Steve Swenson’s attempts on the Karakoram range is just fabulous! Also absolutely love DDs music score! Adding Steve’s book to my reading list.

Notable videos watched this week:

• Lhotse : Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison’s first ski descent from Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world! Beautiful videography and visualisations!
• What if we nuke a city: Yet another impressive video from Kurzgesagt advocating why we all need to step down now on the nuclear front!
  

Interesting reads this week:

• Keeping Your Blood Sugar In Check Could Lower Your Alzheimer’s Risk “Abnormal levels of blood sugar, both high and low, also lead to disrupted sleep” – This likely explains why my dad and other elderly people I know have a not-so-restful sleep most of the days!
• The Wing: how an exclusive women’s club sparked a thousand arguments: Interesting, intriguing and validating – there’s always a market to tap into! Always be wary of the extremes…I know I won’t pay ~200$ a month to join a specific gender based club. However, I see where the draw is…
• The death zone : If there’s one thing I would try if I had absolutely no responsibilities, it would be free-diving. Ironically, I’m saying this now when my breath tuning is way off. I was mesmerized when I first learnt about free-diving and to this day, that fascination has not weaned out!
• Kindness (A reflection on 25-hours at the Frozen Yeti) : Josh Katzman, is and will always be, a person I look up to in the ultra-running realm. The positivity and zeal that he brings into the TARC group is just phenomenal.