DS

I finally enabled iCloud library sharing between me and Anu, and it took over 3 days for iCloud to merge all our photos into one library. Phew. I love it because I can edit photos she took on my phone directly and she doesnt have to keep nagging me about sharing all the photos I took. This is super convenient!

Some end of year best-ofs in no particular order.

Spider Man: Across the Spiderverse was easily the best movie of the year for me. I caught this movie twice in theater and couple times more on streaming. If there’s a near perfect movie of 2023, this was it. I didnt think much of Barbie or Oppenheimer as much as they were acclaimed. I also really liked Kho gaye hum kahan towards end of the year.

I continued to listen to a lot of Punjabi Pop, both Indian and Pakistani artists, all through 2023. My interest in this genre hasn’t died down much; they are perfect for low stress in-car listening or background music during get togethers or just white noise when working. I am not listening to this genre to appreciate any serious music here, but they are so accessible and fun to listen so whatever. Hasan Raheem was definitely a pick along with dependable AP Dhillon for my go-to music. Gothilu from Coke Studio Bharat was a surprisingly addictive track.

I read so few books this year (but better than zero from years past!), but Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel was my pick of the year.

My favorite new restaurant of the year was Taco Rock - I discovered this place during a swim meet and have been hooked to their quick taco turnarounds. One time I ordered their shrimp fajitas (from what is essentially a fast food taco restaurant), and it was the best fucking fajitas i have eaten in a long long time. Even better? a location opened up a mile away from our place so this is a place we’ll be visiting often!

I will try to do another post on our scores of home improvement projects for 2023 later today if I am in mood and micro makes it easy for me to post photos.

Every time I visit threads, all i see is a replica of Twitter slowly brewing. I dont feel like contributing to anything there because ultimately in a few years Meta and co will simply use “freedom of expression” to justify all the Nazis and right wing terrorists posting whatever they want on the site. Might as well save the trouble to begin with and avoid.

Got an early birthday gift in Apple Watch 9. I used my Apple Watch 4 for the last 4+ years but it reached a point where the charge wouldn’t even last half a day. I was hoping to pull through till Apple Watch 10 hoping something special but was not to be. Definitely lighter and less bulkier than earlier watches for sure!

A cute quirk my doggo has developed these days - he doesn’t like anyone taking MY spot on the sofa. I tend to sit constantly only on one side of the sofa and now my doggo thinks that’s my sacred space. So he actively barks at anyone who sits in that spot and gets annoyed if anyone else takes it. That spot according to him is mine and I am now bound to it - and no one else can take it from me. Oh well I don’t have to ever running out of space on our sofa for myself I guess! I love it 😆

I think the time has come for Amazon prime to evolve into iCloud+ like subscription service. Sure you can take the entire bundle and save money or choose what you want and save incrementally on bundles. This whole notion of extra fees to remove ads on prime video is so silly - instead could have created bundles like 2 day shipping, prime video + music, or storage music+video and shipping and let audience choose what they want!

Also finished Murder at the end of the world and we did not see that coming, though it should have been fairly obvious. I am still miffed that Netflix did not let Brit Marling finish The OA which I still think is one of the most inventive (& bizarre) shows ever made. I still hope that one day she can finish The OA.

Is it just me or Slow Horses S3 is exceedingly good. Every episode has left us feeling “wait, this episode is already over?!" feeling. Very few shows make a 45 min episode week after week so nail-biting.

I wont be buying at least for 3-4 revisions (and a very very very significant price cut!) but I am very excited about prospect of just trying out Vision Pro at an apple store.

This whole substack drama reminds me of the last project I worked on in my edtech startup before leaving. Its a good reminder that any time a company decides to pander to fringe/right wing elements they will almost always end up on the wrong side of everything, even financially.

A few states (read: Florida and Texas) had major problem with our product because it was considered too “liberal” for schools. Parents (& teachers!) had complained that our product (supplemental news) did not have enough conservative (read: right wing / fringe) view points to teach kids and it was very NYC liberal. As soon as latest legislatives were passed there was a lot of debate within the company about what kind of company they wanted to be and what values were important. After much debate, the leadership decided that all voices were important and choice was important, and who were we after all if our customers demanded that, right?

So in the next few months, the product built choices within platform that allowed school admins to censor or promote specific content to students, and even block it. Teachers had no agency to override and could get into trouble for using non-approved content. Result was the few teachers who were vociferous in their complaints go their wish, but all the other teachers who could’ve used the product also were not.

But it did not end there. The company thought by pandering to a few states and their right wing BS they would avoid showdown in other states. Well, other state schools, teachers and admins were pissed that the company would take a position of censorship. The reputational hit amongst liberal state teachers was way more than conservative states - even so that usage fell not only in the right wing states but also in liberal states because teachers/admins could no longer identify with the values of the company. But once the company was on this path, there was no going back. Unfortunately I did not stick around long enough to figure out what happened since then, but all I know is that the reputational hit that the product took completely demoralized the company employees, hit its finances and ended up with layoffs of almost 40% of company. Now i have no idea whats going on there.

Coming back to Substack, this is exactly what will happen. There is no coming back from the absolute idiocy they did. They didnt learn from Twitter either. Once you’ve shown what values you as a company hold, there is no coming back from there, especially for small/mid size companies. And you know what, you fucking deserve it.

Two more months until weather starts upwards curve. But the nice thing is days are already getting longer which is a fucking relief. Cant wait for spring summer!

Came back from vacation two days ago and already feels like two months since a vacation 😂

I am so annoyed with lack of apple card integration with other providers like personal capital, mint (now moot), or other tools. At this point I feel like giving up using apple card all together and just use my chase card for all purchases. I am not sure what value apple card has ever brought in the first place.

Look I loved eating all the variety of Caribbean cuisine and especially all the fish delicacies all week but nothing warms my heart and satisfies my tummy more than dal rice and bhindi subji. Comfort food at last!