2 August 2026

From the bartender’s corner: Kilted Dragon

I had to think a bit before making today’s cocktail. I moved away a little from the Indian theme because I have managed to give myself some acid reflux after all the Indian food. So I was looking for something a little gentler on the stomach.

I went with red dragon fruit juice and Hendrick’s gin, then added a little sugar syrup and tonic water.

The name of the cocktail is a nod to its Chinese (only the dragon part, the fruit itself is from Central America, I think) Scottish (this particular gin) roots.

Category: Cocktails | LEAVE A COMMENT
25 July 2026

There is a reason it is called a “Run”way

You saw the toddler learning to crawl on the runway. She was adorable.

You have probably seen models walk the runway. They are elegant.

Now you get to see a runner run the runway. He was… difficult to watch.

Evenings are not my ideal running time. It was hot, humid, and I was painfully slow. But I was determined to complete three end-to-end trips on the runway, a little over 1.5 km each way.

So, I can now proudly add another completely unnecessary achievement to my running résumé. Right next to “Ran the original Marathon route of Phidippides” (back in 2015), I can now claim, “Ran a 5K on a live airport runway.”

My running logbook may be fading with age, but at least it is getting weirder.

Category: Running, Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
21 July 2026

Layover Lagoon

Hopefully, the airport reopens today. Thanks to all the rescheduling, I now have a fairly convoluted sequence of flights ahead of me.

In the meantime, there was little to do but make the best of an unexpected extra day in Vanuatu. I took a kayak out into Erakor Lagoon. The water was crystal clear. It was surreal to see all the starfish calmly scattered all across the sandy bottom.

Category: Kayaking, Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
7 July 2026

I am finally hanging up my boots with this game

Many moons back, my friend Mita Basu had introduced me to this game – travle.earth. The whole idea is to travel from Country A to Country B by crossing only land borders. There are some quirks in the game – It thinks of Siachen Glacier as a country, it does not think you can cross from Morocco to Western Sahara by land, and for some reason, it will not let me go from Poland to Russia directly, although I have been to their land border myself (exclave of Kaliningrad).

But I have now reached the 1000 game mark without failing once. And I am ready to move on to my next geography game. First, I have to dig through my messages from Mita. About a month ago, she sent me another game that I haven’t opened yet!

If you want to learn about country boundaries, this is a great game to try.

Category: Puzzles | LEAVE A COMMENT
1 July 2026

Rockstar Parking

To practice my drowning… I mean, swimming… outside of class, I headed to the local Wills Park Pool.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed it was fairly crowded. That gave me mixed feelings. On one hand, I was about to embarrass myself in front of a lot of people. On the other hand, if I accidentally wandered into the deep end, there would be plenty of witnesses… and hopefully a few willing rescuers.

Fortunately, the parking spot closest to the entrance was open.

Unfortunately, it was reserved for “Rockstars of the Week.”

Now, most sensible people would have parked across the road where there we empty spots.

I am apparently not one of them.

I walked into the front desk and made my case.

“I am learning to swim,” I explained. “It can be independently verified that I sink like a rock. Not just this week, but every single week. Doesn’t that qualify me for that parking spot?”

The nice lady at the front desk did not so much reject my argument as gently shooed me away.

Fair enough.

By the time I came back outside, the spot next to the Rockstar space had opened up.

Honestly, that suited me just fine.

I figured I should probably learn to float in the water before floating any other stupid ideas.

Category: Swimming | LEAVE A COMMENT