23 April 2023

The Oracle of Pune!

Amit was in town for a family wedding. Thanks to Anand’s efforts, we were able to get together for a couple of hours. Madhav made it too but we missed Karthik.

Back in the mid 2000s, both Amit and I had left Dallas around the same time – he headed to India and I, to Atlanta. His interests in life is more varied than I have seen in anybody. I am fairly sure he is the friend I have that gets the title of “somebody I know with the highest number of followers in Twitter”.

We went over some awesome memories from the past. He and I were next door to each other in office and many a random lunches were spent together talking about stuff. (a safe guess would be complaining about things at work đŸ™‚ ).

Today, there were couple of great debates in geopolitics. Really enjoyed the depths in the arguments from Madhav, Anand and of course, Amit!

Category: Intersection Points | LEAVE A COMMENT
22 April 2023

It must be the crowds

Checking my blog, I was astonished to find that the last time I ran a 5K race was 6 whole years back!! I could have sworn that I ran a couple every year before Covid hit. Turns out that is not true.

So, after 6 years then, I ran a 5K race today. Heart and Sole 5K run (for special learning kids). It was to start from Avalon. Which is a walking distance away for us. I used that to get my warm up run done. Registered on the spot.

The environment was electrifying. Lots of folks – young kids, elderly persons, cute dogs, folks who clearly looked like they run some 20 miles every day and there were those who probably thought they said “Rum” instead of “Run”!

The run itself was very enjoyable. The adrenaline rush of police escorts, people cheering from the side and photographers everywhere was enough to make most runners shave off quite some time from their normal pace. My thrilling moments of passing other runners (especially uphill) were often supplanted by folks with two dogs attached to them breezing past me!

I was fairly surprised that the first mile was at 9:03 pace. That is nearly 2 minutes faster than my normal pace. The second mile slowed down to 9:28. But the third one speeded up to 9:16. The final piece was at 8:16! Total 29:14 mins. My apple watch showed that we covered a little more distance than 5K (3.17mile instead of 3.1) – so I have to wait for them to post the final chip times on their website.

I have no doubt in my mind that the reason for so much better performance compared to my usual pace is because of the excitement of the crowds.

Apr 26 Update: Out of 369 runners, I came at the 65th position. The chip timer showed 29:19.

Category: Running | LEAVE A COMMENT
22 April 2023

An old intersection point

So, there I was. Sitting in a corner of the coffee shop with my cappuccino and getting a few weekly chores cleared out from my laptop when I thought I heard a lady call out my name. It was an unlikely place to meet somebody I knew. I have been going there for three years and it has never happened to me.

I took my eyes off the screen and looked up. And sure enough – it was my old friend Marianne Petty standing there. She was there with her family picking up some coffee. I did not realize that she lived very close to that place.

I got to know her back in 2007 or so when I started a new job. She was in HR and had started a couple of years earlier than me. What is funny is that while talking to Ben (her husband), I found out that he had a long career in the same company too. Not only did I not know that, he actually remembers being in the same room as I during a meeting!! I really need to pay more attention to people around me.

I got help from her daughters for the selfie. (I just can’t do that thing well)

It was such a great chance to meet this wonderful family. I saw Marianne herself after a decade!

Category: Intersection Points | LEAVE A COMMENT
22 April 2023

Ride up to Dawsonville

It was a bit cold but the sun came out. Temperatures dropped in Atlanta to more spring like weather (and will be like this for another week). On the return trip, I stopped at my favorite Cumming coffee shop – Community Cup. It is one of the few coffee places that has bar seating upfront where you can work and chat with the barista at the same time.

Was a bit overwhelmed by all the celebrations that seemed to be going on in front of the coffee shop. Decided to park the bike a little further away and find out what was up. Turned out it was the fifth anniversary for Community Cup!

Category: Motorbiking | LEAVE A COMMENT
20 April 2023

Of all the strangers I make friends with…

… the young ones are the ones that I learn the most from. Met Nicholas and Grace who were helping me at my table in Landsharks Bar and Grill. There were not too many customers on a weekday – so we got to chat a lot. Learnt about how Nicholas got into trading futures and options. His conclusions? It is gambling at the end of the day.

The three of us had some great give and take about where we would go if we could go anywhere and how would we spend $100,000 if we were not allowed to save or invest.

Category: Boating, Intersection Points | LEAVE A COMMENT