Premshree's (品速力) Personal Weblog

peanut butter

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:12:10 GMT

I wonder what it feels like to be an empty jar of peanut butter.

I eat a lot of peanut butter but I've never had my own jar of peanut butter: I was always eating at work or at friends'.

A few weeks ago I got myself my very own jar of peanut butter (Peanut Butter & Co.'s crunchy, because you must want to know) and today while buttering my toast I noticed the jar was half empty. That made me quite sad. I have never seen an empty jar of peanut butter and the future of that jar doesn't look very good.

An empty jar of peanut butter is a sad thing. I wonder how it feels to be empty.

On Traveling Alone

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:41:26 GMT

I think it's normal that when you travel to a new place for a few days you want to see as much as you can. I used to do that long ago. But I've realized I don't enjoy that. The past several travels, I've never had an itinerary really (except I still obsess a ~~little~~ lot about restaurants). I like feeling local, and doing regular activities wherever I go: waking up, eating a good breakfast, going for a run, walking the streets, grocery shopping, going to a church, reading up about the history and culture of a place, figuring out the geography of a place. Of course this is not exactly what a local might do, but it's more local than running around finding the next touristy thing to do from your guidebook.

I used to be socially awkward and afraid of talking to people, so I'd avoid them whenever I could. But I turned into someone who loves talking to people: strangers, people close to me — all kind. So that's another thing I indulge in in my travels. People are all kinds of interesting and you learn a lot from them. (When I'm sad, though, I find it really hard to be myself and strike up a conversation with a stranger.)

Some months ago I was having a conversation with my friend Patrick about traveling alone. He travels to Paris often, alone, because he loves the city. At the time, I was going through a lot of personal issues, and really needed to be around people, and so the word "alone" would trigger me easily. I asked him if he wished he had a companion to travel with. He talked about his various experiences traveling to that city, alone. "There is something very beautiful about being in Paris, going to the cafe you always go to, drinking an espresso, reading a book perhaps, and watching the world go by." There indeed is something beautiful about that. The experiences you will have traveling by yourself, you cannot have when traveling with someone. Traveling alone is a more personal experience and can very fulfilling.

I have realized that traveling like this makes me very happy. For someone who's very uncomfortable being alone, some of my recent travels (Barcelona '09, Hong Kong '10, Chennai '10) were more than just fine — I enjoyed them. Another thing that makes my travels interesting for me is running. In Hong Kong, I once ran from Tsuen Wan to Lai Chi Kok: I took the blue line from Tai Koo to Admiralty, and then took the red line toward Kowloon (I know no-one cares about the blue line or red line but talking about it makes me feel local, haha!); I looked at the subway map and decided to get off the last stop: Tsuen Wan. I started running. At one point I was running uphill on Castle Peak Rd. I saw parts of Hong Kong I would've never seen. I was hurting, but it was a lovely experience that's very personal.

My coffee and restaurant obsession has been interesting in many ways too: I have ended up in neighborhoods that I wouldn't have otherwise.

I have been insecure about myself for a while now, but I'll admit I like the way I travel. It makes me happy.

Why I don't like eating out in India

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:01:50 GMT

I used to eat out a lot when I lived in Bangalore. Like everyday. I always liked good food, but really I liked eating pretty much anything that tasted remotely good. Even growing up in Bombay I used to eat out a lot. Everyday. I would eat two dinners: first, whatever mommy made; second, after mum and dad went to bed, Vinod and I would order food in. We thought it was our little secret, except mum knew about it but never said anything about it to us and let us believe that it was our little secret.

Some three years ago I moved to San Francisco, and I ate some of the most amazing foods at some of the best restaurants in the world. (Also, in NYC.) It's really hard for me to eat out in restaurants anywhere in India anymore. I am not much of a fan of Indian food, and most restaurants that serve other cuisines are pretty bad. It's not just the food, it's also the feel of the restaurants. I always felt like there was something lacking in restaurants in India. It became clear to me when Nicole gave me her perspective: she told me about how Florence Nightingale — who laid the foundation of professional nursing — had managed to significantly reduce the death rate in the army by making improvements in hygiene. I never realized the absence of women in pretty much any restaurant in India. It's all mostly just commerce.

Of course there are exceptions. Caperberry in Bangalore, for example, is pretty good; and also has a decent wine selection (the lunch, though, is entirely skippable; and they could also do without the whole cryo thing). I wish there were more such restaurants here.

While I'm rarely ever excitable about any restaurant here, I'm able to go out and eat: food here is what it is and I gotta enjoy it for that.

If you're curious, a lot of what I've been eating over the years is documented here.

home

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:35:33 GMT

There's all sorts of reasons why one wouldn't feel "at home" in any city, but I feel like the reasons why one wouldn't feel at home within the four walls of what they call "home" -- whatever the city -- are pretty limited. By that I mean that I could live in any city in the world -- Bombay, for example, where I don't feel at home -- but it still is possible for me to feel at home in my apartment.

I haven't felt at home anywhere in India in a long, long time, but I haven't felt at home in my own apartment in Bombay either, which concerns me. But long ago, I did feel at home in my earlier apartment. In thinking about this, I realized that what changed was the number of hours this apartment feels like a public space: a couple of hours during the day by the maid, and later in the afternoon by the cook. Home doesn't feel private and cozy anymore.

Santa Cruz Half Marathon 2010

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:59:58 GMT

Few months ago I never would've thought of doing a half marathon. Earlier last month I did the Asha 10k and finished in good time (47:40). That, and encouragement from friends, motivated me to try doing a half marathon. I was never training for a half or any such, but when I started reading about the kind of disciplined training people do, I got a little anxious; all the running geek talk scared me a little. I hadn't been in good physical state (bike accident the week before) or a good mental state either, so that sucked. (I was telling Gopal the other day that I run well when I'm happy or when I'm super angry, but I was sad, and I don't do well when I'm sad.) Running makes me happy, and I had to do this.

Raj and I went to Santa Cruz the day before the race (Saturday). We stopped at Bill's Cafe to carb load and then drove to Santa Cruz. Checked-in to the hotel, walked around the boardwalk, had coffee at The Abbey and then later carb-loaded at Lillian's. The night was spent being anxious and I slept very poorly. Next day morning, I had couple of bagels and OJ and then was off to run!

Was exciting to see so many runners (4,000+). The course is beautiful, but the weather sucked (20-30mph winds, overcast). I'm not used to the random inclines so that was a little painful. The coastal route was especially bad because of the winds, but I survived. The last two miles felt like a long time, but I finally made it. My time was 1:47:30.

While I didn't feel like I pushed myself enough, I am happy with my time. Next I'm doing the SF half marathon in July, and considering training for a marathon.

I have some photos from the race here.

Insecurities

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:06:59 GMT

I have a big problem: my insecurities. When I tell others I feel insecure about myself, they ask my why. I'm not sure I know why, but I suspect one of the keys to feeling better about myself is for me to understand what I'm afraid of. I know I have abandonment issues — feeling like people are going to leave me and never come back; but I have never spent much time delving into why I have such a fear.

I get pretty involved in other people's lives and end up understanding myself in others' context; I becomes we. I have never been able to self-introspect in a useful manner; when I try to think about myself, often times I draw a blank, and then carry on with the motions of life.

My insecurities are irrational, I know that. I have to make an effort trying to feel good about myself. I'm nowhere there yet, but I think I'll get there, with the help and support of my friends. One of the things I thought I'd do — and I know this might sound silly — is to have a "Premshree, you are awesome because..." list and look at it everyday. Think that will work?

Premshree, bare

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:49:01 GMT

Thinking of writing again. I want to share all the mundane stuff going on in my life. That's the hope anyway. Am not sure anyone's reading this, but that's okay, but if you are, hey!

Pink San Francisco Dusk

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:19:54 GMT

The sunset the other day was *beautiful*

Seattle and New York City

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:15:14 GMT

April's been relatively relaxing. I spent one of the weekends in Seattle, where I hung out mostly with ravi. I'm still undecided if I like Seattle, but will visit again anyway. I have some pictures on Flickr. Oh, Virgin America First Class is pretty sweet. :-)

I spent five days (beginning weekend before last) in New York City. Met a bunch of friends from college, did the usual East/West Village thing, arms got screwed-up after rowing in Central Park, hung out at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, went to The Hamptons, went to Long Island for the first time, met friend in Queens.

Hung out with BOBPOPO (one of Live's favorite broadcasters) and friends in Brooklyn. Bob later walked Eric and me to his barber shop, Ticky's, on Flatbush Ave. (We recorded some really fun videos that I'll post here someday.) Bob gave Eric the Flatbush touch and later insisted I should get something done. Check this crazy video.

I haven't finished uploading all pictures, but they'll end up here.

Oh, and in other news, I quit smoking some ten days ago. Cold turkey. So far so good. Hopefully this time around it works.

This time around in The City

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:46:37 GMT

Was in New York couple of weeks ago to meet friends, etc. Sometimes I feel like I should just move there, but I don't want to work for Yahoo! in that case. (That'd be like working for PWC in San Francisco.) Oh well, we'll see.

This was shot from the top of the Rockefeller Center (or Top of the Rock). I highly recommend it if you want fantastic views of the New York City skyline. Views from the Empire State are nice, but not as good as the Rock; also, there is practically *no* line to get on top; and, of course, you actually get to see the Empire State. :-)

More pictures here.

Arnel Pineda

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:19:15 GMT

Arnel Pineda's voice is fucking amazing, and definitely comes closest to Steve Perry's. Check this video, for example (my favorite Journey song).

another one from the roof deck

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:17:00 GMT

Pankaj sent me pretty tulips!

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:46:48 GMT

Made my day.

Champagne, beer and some servers -- Yahoo! Live launch day madness

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:40:43 GMT

Yahoo! Live is live, baby!

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 08:39:11 GMT

Some of you know that I've been working on Yahoo! Live. I was so busy with trying to get some fixes and generally work on some of the boxens that I have had absolutely no time to blog about it — I mean, I built this dope! I'm at hour number 45 (and finally home) or so right now (I took a nap some three hours ago, though). Things are looking pretty stable now and we are doing our best to iron out any kinks as best as we can.

I hate to say this (because it almost seems like an excuse), but Live *is* a limited capacity release and it *is* possible that we will reach our limits. (Note: we hit our limits pretty quick with all the rush last night, but Keith and I optimized and fixed some of the issues that caused us to run out of capacity.) Major props to those of you helped us (and are continuing to do so): Pankaj Kaushal, Raj Shekhar, Jay Janssen, Rasmus Lerdorf. I must be missing someone, but I'm just too doped out right now — sorry.

We had been doing internal tests of Live for a while before we went, umm, live, and it was pretty easy to tell that this was going to make it big. And it did. We're all absolutely psyched about this — it's been a while since we've all heard of a "wow" product.

Obama rally on Yahoo! Live

Live was built by an incredibly small team — part of the Advanced Products team based out of Brickhouse in San Francisco — in like six months. See the official post here, with a video hosted by JT The Bigga Figga.

There's a bunch of stuff we want to work on. And, of course, I'd love to hear what you have to say. Leave any comments/suggestions here or on the official blog.

I think I deserve some sleep now. :-) Night y'all!

PicLens

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:31:05 GMT

Man, this thing is dope.

PicLens has got to be the coolest way to view Flickr streams.

bah

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:39:59 GMT

Enough already about that piece of shit you so fondly call R-oh-R, fucking dweebs.

Death Valley

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:27:57 GMT

The long weekend last week was Death Valley. We hadn't planned well, and since it was a long drive, we rented a car -- a hybrid -- sadly from SJC. And I wasn't allowed to drive, apparently, because I need to be _25_ to drive a _hybrid_. WTF.

Fujicolor Superia 100

While I wasn't particularly excited about the freezing weather, I'd imagine it's much better than being there during the summer. The most fun part was hiking the sand dunes. More pictures here.

withered

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:26:21 GMT

I have a selection of my photos that I file under personal favs, but if I had to pick one that I absolutely love, it has to be this:

For the technically inclined, it's not as sharp as one would like it. But I think it turned out fine as it is. This was shot on Fujichrome Sensia 100 on my (now broken) Nikon FM10. As to why this seems square-cropped when it's shot on 35mm film: this was the last exposure on the roll, and it got only partially exposed; so it was not cropped, really. (Aside: when I gave this roll for development, this last frame wasn't scanned -- the guy probably assumed it was a "bad" exposure -- so I went again to get this one frame scanned. I'm glad I did.)

Vegas/SoCal road trip

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:18:29 GMT

Krunal and I ended up doing a Vegas/SoCal road trip the week leading up to New Year's. Nothing was planned -- the only thing we knew we were doing once he got here from Boston was Vegas. After a couple of days in the city, we started looking for rental cars. Everyone was sold out, and when available, regulation cars were at like 90-100 a day. I called good 'ol Mountain View Avis; they had a car. We head there next day (fuck, it's nuts to commute down south without a car) and Mr. Anil says, "I'll give you a Mustang. Convertible. 29." Gotta love the guy.

So we started off for Vegas. Things were good. I drove more of the California part because in Nevada it had to be Krunal all the way. After having dinner (at some Denny's) we continued down I-15S. Krunal suddenly realizes we're running out of gas! The friggin' indicator was fux0red! Anyway, we couldn't do much so we kept driving for a bit (that bit ended up being more than 15 miles) in hopes of finding a gas station. No luck, so we moved to the right-most lane. The car stops. Wouldn't start. Fuck. Quickly put the parking lights on, and later pushed the car more to the right (the darn thing kept shaking when a truck would go by). Anyway, so we're fucked. Called NHP, but they said they needed a mile marker and it was waaay cold (less than -5° C) for any of us to go figure. Called Avis. Their Vegas location was closed and the woman who answered wouldn't help us any other way. Called again, and now they'd just hang up. (They'd say "hello" exactly twice and then just hang up.) Bastards. We called another Avis location (I think) and explained our situation. She was extremely helpful. She managed to connect us to a towing service, who was supposed to bring us gas. The guy later called us to find out where we exactly were. We managed to give him directions using the GPS (15 miles away from exit 31 or some shit on I-15S; at this point we were about 20 miles from the strip). Anyway, after maybe a couple of hours he came, without fuel -- the gas station that he thought he'd get fuel from was closed. Oh well, so he said he could tow us to the closest gas station which happens to be in the strip. 20 minutes later all we see are lights. We fill up the tank and look for a motel.

Anyway, so that was that. We spent a couple of days in Vegas.

We weren't sure what we wanted to do next, so since Hoover Dam wasn't too far, we headed there.

Traffic was crazy and later I wondered why people even bother coming here. Anyway, next we thought we should head to check out Grand Canyon. Checked maps/GPS and we were on our way. Half way there, we filled up gas in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. It was way late at this time and we were told there's no point going at this time. So then we decided we should head to Santa Monica.

We got to Santa Monica late in the night. Couldn't find a cheap place, so ended up going to Inglewood, close to LAX. Breakfast next day was at the Taco Bell next door -- and I was shocked to see what I saw. The guy told us it's standard-issue LA. We then headed to Venice and later Long Beach. At this point we decided we needed music to be played from the iPhone, so we ended up at some Apple store in Manhattan village to buy the iTrip -- where we learned that the darned thing works only with iPods. Okay. We then headed to Griffith Park in the Hollywood hills to get a view of the LA skyline (not a clear night, sadly.) Later we headed for dinner at some restaurant in Huntington Beach where we were to meet Cathy and Peggy.

We had decided to head out of the area that night, but both of us were extremely tired. So we drove 6 miles to some motel in Beach Blvd. in Anaheim. Later that night Cathy called up saying they wanted to check out SeaWorld in San Diego the next day. That was a good thing, because plans to meet in Vegas had gotten fucked-up. So anyway, they called in the morning saying they were on their way. We left an hour later. So we were in San Diego.

Nice time was had. Later in the night we headed downtown for some coffee for our drive back to San Francisco.

More pictures here.

(I'm glad I ended up writing this. It's been a while since I've written about any of my trips. And that sucks.)

people are like that

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 03:13:36 GMT

I hate it when people say things like "that guy is weird", "he's crazy", "I don't understand him" and such. People probably just say it because they're not like that; but it bothers me. As an example, some of my closest friends are spendthrifts (I belong to this category), while others are the frugal kind — folks from one category don't "understand" the other kind. There's probably this human urge to try and understand something you don't, well, understand — which is just fine — but don't try too hard.

At this point I'd have quoted that cliché about variety and life, but I'll pass. People are different, and that's one reason I love life.

adios

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:52:16 GMT

These days I use my company-issued MacBook Pro. It's amazing how small my 12" Powerbook seems in comparison. Sadly, it's no longer in an usable state. I'd still want to get a 12" (or smaller) MacBook Pro (if they ever make one): it's so easy to carry around.

FWIW, now I have more sticker space. :-)

Oh, here’s an useful post for you geek fashion n00bs (gosh, it almost feels retarded saying that) on how to (and how not to) accessorize the ultimate geek fashion accessory.

(Whee, fourth post already!)

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:49:38 GMT

http://www.google.com/search?q=bangalore+babes =))

Bad iPhoto

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:49:32 GMT

I happened to open my Flickr page on Firefox the other day (I normally use Safari) and was shocked. Most of my recent digital photos appear dull on Firefox. And it seems to be a problem only when I shoot RAW. iPhoto seems to be converting images to generic RGB (Adobe RGB). Die, iPhoto, die! I think I’ll buy Aperture.

apartment in the city

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:20:27 GMT

I lived in corporate housing for almost a month on Geary St.. Those who are familiar with the neighborhood would know that it’s not the best place to live in. It’s nice in that Union Sq. is a couple of blocks away, and there’s loads of restaurants around. But I hated it. The apartment building wasn’t too great; I needed a key, a real key, to get in the building (I hate that — fob any day); the hallways were shabby; no laundry in unit. They lease for relatively cheap, but I wouldn’t have been able to live there.

I finally moved to my apartment in 199 New Montgomery couple of days ago. Office is three blocks away, Market St. is a block away, Metreon is a couple of blocks away. Downtown living, baby! I *love* it.

The building's fantastic. My apartment’s a studio, but it’s got everything I need: in-unit laundry (Bosch equipment), dishwasher (again Bosch), french windows, etc. I got myself an Airport Extreme, so now I’m wireless. All I need now is an HDTV, and a surround sound system. While my apartment itself doesn’t have much of a view (faces Academy of Art), the view from the roof deck is nice:

As for food, instead of burritos from the friendly taqueria, I’m eating from hygienic Chipotle; instead of Jack in the Box, it’s McDonald's. And I need to find good restaurants around.

Today I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to get shower curtains and rings and a rug. Gosh, I went nuts there! That place is awesome. (Reminded me of how much fun Pankaj and I had when we were setting up our penthouse in Bangalore.) But I stuck to plan and bought only what I needed.