Not sure how it got its name but Mr. 404 has Vodka, Aperol, Elderflower liqueur, lemon juice and simple syrup.
Fairly interesting cocktail. The flowery, sweet elderflower liqueur continues grapples with the bitter edge of the Aperol. Neither dominates the other. The nose is definitely sweet and flowery but the length has the distinct Aperol bitterness.
Nikita and I have started a project. The colorful birds are coming in but they are very skittish. If we sit anywhere within 10 yards to watch them, they tend to fly away.
So, we are trying out something different. We set up my iPhone very close to one of the bird feeder. (you can see it on the left top picture). And then started streaming the camera to my laptop using a handy app.
Then sitting in the kitchen, we checked out all the birds on our screen!! We did not even have to go out.
We need to improve from here. For one, the camera needs to be lower. For another, I need to get the zoom going…
Here is a funny thing… Every time a bird appeared on the screen, both of us would involuntarily start talking in hush hush voices. And then would laugh out realizing the mistake we were making…
Went out to run on the new extension of the trail behind Halcyon. Last time I went to that sector was when they were just building the concrete trail. Found out today that there is a very nice trail through the woods. I had to be very careful and take higher strides so as to not let the roots trip me up…
I sat down last evening in my music room (which still has the makeshift bed in it – since that was my quarantine room) and was sifting thru some qawwalis to decide which one to settle in for the evening… when suddenly Parijat and Dipanjan walked in! With their dog Benji!! So, my dog-audience doubled last evening!!
We had a different kind of musical evening. Lot of Western and Spanish music. The cajon accompaniment was with one such Spanish number. I am totally ignorant of Spanish or any Western music but this was Flamenco style, I believe.
One guitar ensemble Dipanjan played from his collection was mesmerizing. I believe the artists were Al di Meola, Paco de Lucia, and John McLaughlin. Again, I am no expert but that was incredibly fast playing.
Great evening with Dipanjan, Parijat and Sharmila yesterday. We were at the Union restaurant – sitting outside and enjoying the evening.
Given all that is happening around us, of course a lot of the discussions were around BLM, the history of slavery and what our community (Bengalis in Atlanta) are doing or (more importantly) not doing for the cause.
From that discussion on why as a community, we do – or not do something, the topic veered to that of morality. That is where the evening got really interesting. I had not thought about this topic much. But some of the conversations were deeply intriguing and somewhat disturbing too! Sharmila took through a couple of examples. For example, if you could prevent a train from having a wreck and potentially save five lives in it – but know for sure, one person down the track is going to die, would you do it?
Do numbers trump in morality questions?
Now, what if that one person was your child? Does your answer change? Mine did!!
So, clearly morality is relative even for one individual!
Again, I found the overall discussion raising a lot of intellectual curiosity. I think I am going to line up a couple of books or literature to read up on… moment I have finished with my CSS and PHP classes though!
Got to meet Garry Capers yesterday!! It had been some time since I had seen him. We had a chance to work together about ten years back. There are a lot of memories from those days – those weekly flights together to DC and the time in the Delta Skyclub spent together every Thursday in Reagan airport.
Other than catching up on our families and all the recent activities in America, we also reflected on our learnings from corporate life. Most of it was around the difficulties of building cultures in a company and how individual personalities play into it.
One observation we both had was that in every product company we have had a chance to work in or at least become close, there is/was always an internal skepticism towards the sales organization. Right, wrong or indifferent, folks inside the organization always seem to have an opinion (negative) about the sales organization (individuals are sometimes cited as very good, though). Interestingly enough, we both reflected that this was not true in professional services organization.
What has your experience been? Same? Different? If you have had a similar observation, why do you think it is so?
P.S. In case you were wondering how come I had forsaken my shorts when Garry’s clothes clearly indicated to the heat in Atlanta – well, I took my motorbike, so had to wear my protective gear. Fortunately, this coffee shop allowed sitting inside the air conditioned area (of course, with social distancing).
I have recently started doing Kenken puzzles (the 6×6 version). Last night, a question came to my mind and ever since I can neither solve the problem nor get it off my mind.
The usual Kenken is a 4×4 grid where you have to fill in every row and every column with the digits 1,2,3 and 4. One rule is that you have to have each one of those digits in every row and every column. (meaning therefore, no repeats in a row or column either – like Sudoku).
There are other rules for each individual Kenken problem. However, assume there is no other rule. You can fill in every row and every column with the digits 1,2,3 and 4 – with the only rule being you have to use each one of them once in every row and every column… how many such combinations are possible?
(I am attaching a picture here of an actual Kenken puzzle – but that
