2023-12-30

Struggled to get out of bed. Was supposed to drop Jay's drill machine back at his place but the weather was so bad I waited an hour for it to subside before I could bring myself to bring the motorbike out of the shed and ride over to South Belfast! Picked up groceries and headed back home. Shruti made chicken fried rice out of the last of the Christmas leftovers. Nichola came over and picked us up, and as the rain had subsided and the sun was out, we went for a walk around waterworks instead of going for coffee. We spotted Conor walking Pablo up cavehill road, called out to him and he joined us for a round of waterworks too. We then grabbed coffee and brownies at cHILL with Nichola, before heading home. I rode out to South Belfast again, this time to buy a pair of winter glvoes as my current pair had the gore-tex layer detach. Winter gloves were super expensive though, at with gore-tex gloves starting at over £150! Instead, I ended up buying silk inner gloves for a tenth of the price, with the refund I was supposed to get for a defective pair of overgloves. Hopefully that sorts me for the winter. Spent the rest of the evening syncing the photos I had added/updated from one hard disk to another.

2023-12-29

Last day of work for 2023! Wasn't feeling too great, struggled through the day, took a long nap during my lunch break, and tried to wrap up work before logging off - but simply couldn't. sorted photos and deleted old emails. my google photos + gmail space usage is at 96%, and it keeps going up no matter what I do! might have to pay for more space next year, despite all my attempts (and hours) spent clearing stuff up.

2023-12-28

Felt better today. Worked from home. Got some (but not much) work done. Slept off straight after work due to the cold and headache. Woke up, blogged on the main blog, and went back to bed.

2023-12-27

Woke up at 7am feeling absolutely terrible - nose completely blocked and a bad headache. Drank some hot water with mulled wine spices and went back to bed. Woke up at 9:30, aiming to start work, but I felt too terrible. Went back to bed, and felt terrible even at noon. Was too bad to even login and send a message saying I'm unwell. Finally got out of bed at 3pm, nose still running but no headache, thankfully. Spent the evening drinking hot fluids. Once I felt better got down to sorting the fat bundle of documents that I had simply put away on the 25th - it was over 6 months of documents! Shruti and I made a pact we will sleep at 11pm, I really feel like I need all the rest I can get. Don't want to take another sick day off! 

2023-12-26

I woke up feeling better than the last few days, again close to noon, but thankfully there wasn't much to do other than eat leftovers, do dishes, clear stuff, speak to mom, Kevin and Brenna, and watch some YouTube. Still felt tired though. Was glad to call it a night! 

2023-12-25

Christmas day! Woke up at past noon, possibly close to 1pm, with the realization that our guests will be over in 4 hours! The chicken had overflowed the slow cooker (how did it expand? I was expecting it to lose volume to steam!). Shruti was busy preparing the starters, I was juggling the chicken, moving stuff into place for the large number of guests (had to take out chairs and a table from the shed), applying finishing touches to the place such as moving the couch, putting up lights in one of the windows, assembling the rug, etc etc. One last room had not been tidied - my office. That was the last thing I had to do, by which time we were expecting folks to arrive. I literally found time to call mom in the last few minutes before the first of our guests arrived, and she didn't answer! The rest of the evening was a party to remember, with about 18 of our friends and their kids over... don't think we've ever had so many people under one roof, ever! Everyone loved my cake and mulled wine, and while I did get some compliments for the chicken, I didn't really think it was my best to begin with. Shruti's starters were a definite hit too. Time flew and people began to leave at 11pm or so. After everyone had left, we got down to clearing and cleaning. At about 1am I literally gave up and told Shruti I really couldn't do any more, and went to bed. Merry Christmas! 

2023-12-24

Woke up with a bad cold and bit of a headache. Spent the day at home, putting stuff in order in preparation for tomorrow. The bookends arrived today so the last of the records were finally arranged on the bookshelf. Time flew! Started preparing the chicken for tomorrow at 9pm or so. Shruti chopped the onions and garlic, and I did the rest. At close to 11pm it became obvious the 3kg of chicken I was planning to cook wasn't going to fit in the slow cooker (it was going to hold closer to 1.5kg, which was a surprise to me as it was a 3.5 litre slow cooker!). Finally had to do half the chicken in our biggest pot. Watched the Vatican Christmas mass (which we finally found a version with an English voice over - on doordarshan of all places!). Fast forwarded through most of it, and had a discussion with Shruti about religion and traditions afterwards. We slept at close to 2am, after a bit of adjusting the chicken around. I finally loaded most of it (maybe 2.2kg) in the slow cooker.

2023-12-23

Woke up at 8:30am, as I had set an early alarm - basically I was supposed to head to St George Market to pick up 1kg of mutton. Long story short, mutton is hard to find here and my friend Mani found someone who supplies mutton to order - except they decide when, and it was today, one of the most busy days of this month. Got ready and was about to leave when I realized the door was dry and so it was a great opportunity to stick the hook to the door so I could mount the wreath back on it. Aunty Kitty called to wish us happy anniversary while I was sticking the hook. I spoke to her on speakerphone while sticking it, getting ready, leaving, and even riding to the market. Picked up the mutton, stopped for some last minute groceries (basically stuff on the list that I somehow forgot yesterday!), got home, changed, and left again, this time with Shruti and headed to Holywood ("The Dirty Duck") for our anniversary lunch. It was super good! After lunch, we walked in to the town centre, had a coffee at Cafe Nero, walked around a little more, browsed a few charity and antique shops, and then walked back to the motorbike. Wore our helmets and gloves, and at the very last moment, somehow managed to lock the bike keys inside the lockable fairing container! We took the train and then bus home, I changed, took a portable charger, headphones and the spare set of keys, hopped on to the bus and then train back to Holywood to unlock the bike, and ride it to do even more grocery shopping (I had forgotten some things off the list in my hurry to get home to get to lunch on time), then went to Jay's place to pick up his drill machine, bits and stuff, and finally got home at almost 9pm. What a day! Spent the rest of the evening with Shruti, watching youtube, talking, dancing, sorting records, clearing stuff from the living room. Not what most people would associate with celebrating an anniversary, but we did spend quality time together and that's what matters the most. Happy seventh anniversary to us!

2023-12-22

Worked from home today, didn't feel too great, got some work done but not as much as I'd have liked. Thought I'd get some tidying up done after work but only managed to cook and eat dinner and sort out a handful of records. Called it an early night - big day tomorrow!

2023-12-21

Worked from home today. Thanks to me forgetting to cancel our HelloFresh subscription in time, we ended up with a week's delivery of meals. Shruti and I made the Thai style sticky noodles. The stuffy nose didn't seem as bad as the last few days, so I set off on the cycle after dinner. Picked up some odds and ends from the supermarket, bubble tea from Hey Boba, and cycled home. It seemed too early to go to bed, so I started sorting records. While a record was playing, I tried assembling the topbox mounting plate/adapter. One thing led to another, and I tried fitting it to the motorbike in the rain. Had to give up because one of the bolts was turning without loosening and I couldn't access the nut at the other end to stop it. Lost track of time, went back to sorting records (these were the last few so the most difficult to categorize/sort as I tackled the easiest ones first). 2/3rd of the last shelf of records are still left to load on the bookshelf, but I'm now 3 bookends short. 4, if you count the other shelf where I used books instead of a bookend. Going to be tricky loading the rest of the records without bookends to hold them up! No idea how time flew but it's now super late to go to bed.

2023-12-20

Dropped Shruti to the city centre for her doctor's appointment and headed to work. The first half was pretty much entirely meetings, and I left a little past noon to pick Shruti up from the city centre, head home, and work from home for the afternoon. Shruti picked up a "Christmas dinner" toastie from the Christmas market and packed it very nicely for me to eat at home. It's her favourite thing to eat at the Christmas market and I think it's now mine too! Left home at about 5:30pm to head to Dundonald - we met Ruth for bowling at Dundonald Ice Bowl. I played terribly! It turns out that whenever I bowl, the ball swings towards the left, and I cannot control it. I maanged to figure a somewhat passable strategy of using the heaviest possible ball, but even then, I'd usually just miss completely and either overcompensate or undercompensate for the spin and get the ball in either gutter. One whole hour of bowling and I'm no better now than when I started! We then headed to Cyprus Avenue for dinner and Nichola joined us there. It was Ruth's birthday and when Shruti mentioned it to the waitress (who coincidentally was also Shruti's friend!) we were treated to a glass of complimentary prosecco and some bread-like thing that was somewhat like foccacia. Nice! Dinner was good too, but we were absolutely stuffed thanks to the 3-course offer. They took forever (45 minutes to be precise) to bring our bill once we finished, so we were back home at almost midnight! Just peeled off our clothes and jumped straight into bed.

2023-12-19

Today was slightly better than yesterday - so glad the cold wasn't anything worse. The work day passed in a blink, possibly thanks to meetings. Dropped Shruti off to the gym and went off to do grocery shopping. Brought as many things as I could fit in the motorbike's panniers, picked her up, unloaded groceries, and headed off for another round of shopping. This time it was only one pannier full, so yay! Finished leftovers for dinner (need room in the fridge!), uploaded dental insurance claims as the deadline is a week from now, and off to bed after a quick shower. I feel drained, and tomorrow is going to be an early morning as I have to drop Shruti at her doctor appointment before I head to work.

2023-12-18

Woke up with a stuffed left half of my nose and a bit of a headache. Struggled through most of the day, but gave up around 3:30pm and had a nap. had a dream about finishing work and charging my phone and laptop. woke up and actually got some work done. also sorted a few records but didn't put them on the bookshelf. tried to get a few more things done around the house but everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, so gave up. 

2023-12-17

Slept in again, thanks to a headache and a stuffy nose and many dreams that left me unsettled (but I can't recall now). Missed the cavehill hike. Focussed on getting small things done around the house, and eventually got out for a walk. Picked up bubble tea from my favourite "hey boba" and then walked to/through botanic gardens. It was drizzling and cold-ish so we decided to walk around in ulster museum instead. Did a bit of a jog because I was in my running shoes and Shruti reminded me I could! Walked down through botanic to Cafe Nero as Shruti wanted one of their Christmas specials. Tasted a bit of her "Panettone Latte" and it was delicious. Got home and spent the rest of the evening sorting records and arranging them on the bookshelf, while watching Ghostbusters afterlife. The weekend really flew by!

2023-12-16

Woke up super late, close to noon. Spent the day assembling the bookshelf, the last of the new furniture for this month. I have a feeling this will be the last one for a while - at least, we don't have anything planned for the near future. Moved the amp to the new bookshelf, and reconnected everything other than the turntable, which unfortunately is too far from the amp now by about a foot. Sorted and loaded about 1/3rd of the records onto the bookshelf. Tried to figure ways I could get the turntable to work with the amp without buying new wires. I might be able to use a preamp box in bypass mode as a way to join two RCA cables together! I also have way more cables than I need, although I think some of them are of very poor quality and could be given away... still, you never know when you'd need them in a pinch (as I might, today)!

2023-12-15

Worked from home again. Had a terrible headache after noon and nothing was helping - finally took a 2 hour nap and felt a lot better. Wrapped work at around 6pm and assembled the smaller shoe cabinet. Was much quicker today because I remembered the steps from the other one, and I was also not sleepy. Finished at 9pm, cycled to the corner store to buy milk and bread, and then cycled over to a friend's place to say bye as they were going away on vacation for a month. Sat around for over an hour, had a cup of tea, then cycled back home a little past midnight. There goes my plan to catch up on sleep tonight!

2023-12-14

Worked from home today. Once work was done, assembled a shoe cabinet, mostly by myself, with the music blastic out loud until Shruti came home (at around 10:30pm). Finished assembling the shoe cabinet past midnight! At one point I was so sleepy the screwdriver kept slipping from my hand and falling off - thankfully no damage done to the shoe cabinet.

2023-12-13

Went to office for the third day in a row today. Think 3 days in a row really wears me down. Look at how spoiled I've become, until the pandemic I'd happily go to office all 5 days a week! Today was an early start as I had to drop Shruti at the city centre for her doctor appointment and then get to office early as I was interviewing students for 10 month placement. Got to work with just enough time to prepare, but as this was the second time in a few weeks I was doing interviews, my preparation was super quick and it went nice and smooth. I even made myself a large coffee that I sipped on while interviewing the first couple of candidates! I realized I prefer interviewing in person instead of over zoom. For some reason (maybe because I was so tired and somewhat sleep deprived), I didn't have lunch today. Just fruit! Finished work, picked up Shruti from her office, dropped her off at the gym, only for her to find out that the swiming pool was closed till 8:30pm. As a result, I also missed my wednesday evening cavehil walk with the club. Got home, ate my "lunch" for dinner, and was going to head to the "cHILL" cafe to meet the walking club, when my phone rang just as I was getting ready to leave, and I got too late to make it. Spent the rest of the evening talking to Shruti and watching youtube. Today was my last day in office for 2023, as we've been allowed to work from home for the rest of the year. Feels like 2023 is drawing to a close when the "last of the year" things start happening!

2023-12-12

Went to office again today - this time not because of anything in office, but because I had to get to east Belfast after work. I was supposed to cycle to work today - pumped the tyres, filled my cycle waterbottle, but when it was time to leave, it started raining, so I decided to take the motorbike instead. By that time, it was clear I'll be late for work, so I decided to join my 9:45am call from my phone and speak via the headset in my helmet. I was ready to leave, but "zoom" has such a terrible UI that if I left, I wouldn't be able to join the call on the way. So I waited in the driveway for the call to start, and left once the call was on! Interestingly, the call lasted the exact duration of my commute, and I disconnected right as I got out of the parking lot and to my desk. We went to Zizzi for a team lunch - our first ever, as we're finally a team big enough to actually make going out worthwhile! Had duck leg confit, and I must say, duck might be one of my favourite things to eat! After work, I headed to C.S. Lewis square for the Santa cycle ride organized by Sustrans. There was quite a turnout, and I was "ride assistant", tasked with staying at the very end of the group to make sure there are no stragglers. Couldn't take any photos/videos myself due to my responsibilities, but a few were captured by other volunteers. Fun memory! I should have come better prepared - others wore their Santa hats, Christmas jumpers, etc. At least, I had my (borrowed) bike decked up in multicoloured lights, so yay! Did groceries, got home super hungry, and cooked turkey mince in vindaloo masala. Turned out super spicy!

2023-12-11

Went to office today. Got delayed on my way in as I was stuck behind a learner driver who took forever to take a right turn from our lane on to the main road! While I was frustrated and watching the clock, I remembered how nerve-wracking such junctions were when I was just learning. I'm glad people were considerate and patient when they waited for me, and today was my turn. Today was the secret santa for my floor, and I got some very interesting gifts! Well, you can't go wrong with a box of ferero rocher, but I also got a gift set of perfumes (it was a largish botle, so maybe eau de toilette? need to have another look before I put it away!) and most interesting of all, a card that said "merry christmas brother" - with some really fancy calligraphy inside! Everyone around was really confused/surprised by the card - do I have a long lost brother in office? After work, I rushed home to pick Shruti up and head back in the direction of office. Today was the last day of "Globe Cafe" for the foreseeable future, a bittersweet evening to end over 10 years, 5 of which I attended. It was nice to meet the old timers, plenty of whom have become our good friends. Globe cafe usually winds up at 9:30pm, but this time the volunteers didn't ask us to leave as they usually would, and we were there till past 10. I was super tired and really needed to go to bed by the time we left!

2023-12-10

Woke up at 10am, not sure how. The cavehill hike was to be at 11, but Shruti wanted to be dropped at the gym first. We were running late, but I managed to drop her at the gym, ride back home, change from riding gear to hiking gear, hop on to the cycle, pedal as fast as I could, and get to the start point just 5 minutes late! It didn't look like there was anyone around and I was about to turn around and head home disappointed. I wasn't expecting people to leave after just 5 minutes! Turns out they were just waiting in their cars as it was raining. It was 6 of us, and we started hiking, but about 15 minutes in, people felt like turning back as it was raining too heavily. I was prepared for the rain though, and was really looking forward to doing the whole hike as it'd been a while. Thankfully, Conor was happy to hike all the way to the top too, so it was just the two of us for the rest of the hike. We did it in good time, and headed to the cafe "cHILL" for a coffee after. We were having such an interesting discussion that time flew and I headed back home at after 2:30pm! I was supposed to drop Shruti to her German meet-up at 3pm, and she was ready and waiting for me. Unfortunately the folding cycle developed a puncture on the short way home. I located the puncture, marked it and filled the tyre with air in the hope it props it up until I could patch the tube. Unfortunately the puncture was so large that air was audibly escaping it, and I could even feel the air escape! A problem for another day, I guess. Left on the motorbike, dropped Shruti off (there was terrible traffic!), headed to refill quarter, and sure enough, I had forgotten the flaked almonds there. Went for a short ride that turned into a long ride because I had completely lost my sense of direction and was riding away from Belfast instead of towards it! A couple of road closures didn't help. Once I finally found my way back to Belfast, I picked up my favourite bubble tea, picked up Shruti, and headed home. I had my first bite of the day at 6pm, and surprisingly, I still wasn't hungry! Made chicken thai curry (Shruti made the rice), and then got to work on the cake. Tried making an experimental eggless cake with 1/4th of the batter, while the rest was the usual. Didn't really factor in having to cool the cake down before going to bed, and the cake also took 25 minutes longer than the recipe predicted. Must have been all the brandy in the batter! Either way, the eggy cake looked good... the eggless one, not so much. I'm sure it'll taste fine though!

2023-12-09

Woke up super late (past noon, for sure!). Made bhurji of the last 7 eggs in the house. Today was Aaron and Nirayle's wedding - Kevin, Brenna and Mom attended and apparently had a blast. Went to refill quarter to buy ingredients for the cake, grocery shopping (because the cake needed eggs, of course!), got back home, started mixing the cake batter... and realized one of the ingredients (flaked almonds) was missing! I was sure I purchased flaked almonds, and I had thankfully asked for a bill that had it listed and paid for. Turned the kitchen upside-down, even woke up Shruti who couldn't remember seeing it. Had to abandon the cake half mixed. Thankfully I hadn't added the eggs yet, so it was safe to keep out for a day.

2023-12-08

Today was Michael's funeral, but I couldn't join the zoom as it was at 5:30am UK time. Unremarkable day at work (from home). Logged off at 5:15 or so, as we had to drop off a courier and pick up a wreath for our inner door (because one cannot be too Christmassy!) Back home a little before 6, quickly got changed and set off again - my friends Jay and Namratha had invited us over to dinner. It was raining, we were running behind schedule, buses were running behind schedule, and refreshing the bus timetables revealed the bus that ran nearest to our home has been almost discontinued - the last service leaves at 5:51pm! There was also a 1 hour wait for a taxi. We finally got a bus, and reached an hour late. Had a yummy dinner, and a drink or three from Jay's collection - it was a limited edition whiskey that had to be ordered a few years in advance as they only release a batch every 5 years! Well worth the bus ride (although Shruti might have differed on that point). Don't remember when I slept, but it definitely was late!

2023-12-07

 Unremarkable day working from home, and after work we had our office Christmas dinner. Took the bus in, and surprisingly was the second to arrive despite being just 7 minutes before our reservation! The dinner was at "Coppi", an Italian restaurant, and I must say, this might have been the first dinner in Belfast where nothing I ordered was served with potatoes! Also, we had to order on the spot, which was a refreshing break from the norm - I never really got the idea behind ordering my dinner a month in advance! The staff somehow also forgot to put my drink on the bill, and so, they said I don't need to pay as everyone else had paid for their drinks. Felt weird to drink for free, but yay! It was barely 9:30 or so, so people wanted to grab a drink at a pub before heading home. Unfortunately, every pub in the area was so packed we couldn't get in, let alone get a drink! After three pubs, I decided to head home (others didn't give up so easy and were still wandering around Cathedral quarter looking for a pub when I left). My bus passed by literally as I was waiting to cross the road to get to the stop, so I had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.

2023-12-06

Woke up feeling a little sore (but not as bad as after last week's run!). Took the motorbike to work. Went grocery shopping in the opposite direction of home, because I felt like a bit of a ride. It started pouring on the way home, but at least I got a ride out of it! Working from home the next couple of days, so it's going to be at least 5 days before the bike is out on the road again. The true test of the new battery! Didn't feel like doing anything productive once I got home, so I watched some British comedy from the 70s and a couple of documentaries on youtube. Cooked pasta for Shruti's lunch but apparently she forgot it's her office's Christmas lunch tomorrow! Might have eaten it myself, if it wasn't for the number of goodies I purchased today (a stuffed venison joint, venison steaks, duck breast!). I finished the "wild boar rillette"  today after saving it up for a few months. Yummy!

2023-12-05

Woke up with a message on my phone informing me that my childhood friend (and neighbour for the first 20ish years of my life) Michael Fonseca had passed away. Cycled to work today. Really put some energy into it, and realized the max cadence I'm comfortable at on top gear gets me to exactly 33 km/h. So I guess that's my speed limit of sorts! Didn't plan on running (if I did, I'd have taken the motorbike to work) but ended up running 3k anyway. At the end of 3k my legs were already sore - that's a first! Attended a Kotlin meetup after work, the first half of which was about Kotlin Multiplatform (a newish Kotlin based technology that allows multiple native UIs to be built using as much or as little code sharing as desired). Seemed similar to Flutter, which I had first heard of at a meetup a year (or maybe a couple of years?) ago - but they claim it's better, obviously. The second half was about what a couple of newish users of Kotlin liked most about the language. Cycled home around 9pm, cleared up about 300gb of space on the hard disk by deleting more duplicates. This is such a time sink!

2023-12-04

Rode the motorbike to work today, because I thought I'd go run in the lunch break. Unfortunately there were too many meetings! Didn't really get much work done during the day, but a couple of hours in the evening after most people had left, helped. Had a relaxed evening with Shruti thanks to her cooking dal and rice before I even got home and there being enough leftovers (mince and chicken) for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. We pretty much spent the evening talking and watching youtube together. I had done a duplicate check on one of the hard disks (the 4tb one) yesterday - it took 3 hours to scan - and tried to make a start at going through the duplicates and deleting them today. Think about 200gb of duplicates deleted so far. Will do the rest later this week.

2023-12-03

Stayed up for a bit and finished assembling the centre table. The last bit was the trickiest and I should have done it when Shruti was awake - still, I didn't feel like sleeping with the job half done. Woke up at 10am and went hiking up cavehill with the club. Wasn't expecting to feel so awake! Went for coffee after the hike, and finally got home at 2:30pm. First meal of the day at 3pm, must be a record of sorts (not really, I'm sure). Loads of stuff to do, and Shruti made a massive list. Got the steamer working, steamed the curtains, cooked chicken katsu curry, fixed the doorbell with wd40, cycled to the shop and purchased milk, went through this box which had loads of stuff which has been lying around, sorted out things we don't want, put loads of stuff on freecycle, and sat to delete emails because my Gmail is actually running out of space. Three hours of sorting and deleting emails freed up barely 1gb. And this was after going through 11 years of email! 

2023-12-02

All nighter, after ages! Put up lights and decorations, changed the curtains. Tried multiple times to import my old blog posts but didn't succeed. Slept at maybe 7am and woke up at noon. Assembled the centre table. Shruti doesn't like the table as it was advertised as solid oak and turned out to be plywood. Still, it's decent value for money so we decided to keep it. Should have realized it was too cheap to be solid oak - black Friday sale notwithstanding. Cycled to the city centre to meet cycling volunteers from Sustrans for a couple of drinks, then met the Cavehill walking club for their Christmas dinner followed by a DJ session. Danced at least an hour, maybe two. Danced so much I drank around a litre of water! Got a lift home with one of the club's daughter, whose car boot was thankfully big enough to squeeze my folding cycle in. What a night! 

2023-12-01

December is here! Opened the cheese advent calendar for a nibble of red Leicester. Sleepwalked through the day despite having 8 hours of sleep. Logged off early (at 4pm) and slept 5 hours! Started cooking at 9:30pm because I felt I had the energy. Still mentally drained though - turned on the PC and forgot to play music, forgot my tea halfway through, forgot to add salt to the mince I was cooking for tomorrow. Broth from the mince and leftover pizza for dinner. Might put the lights on the Christmas tree before I go back to bed.