Weekly Notes 22/2024

It's that time of the year (Weekly Notes 21/2023) again. I am in Chennai for Paradox. I like these yearly visits. The year 2023/24 has been exceptional. Some of the students who had completed the course have been placed. I got first-hand feedback about one of the students who has been put in an organization I know.

I've had the opportunity to work with <student> over the last 5 months so and I'm very impressed by his technical knowledge, diligence and hunger to learn. He can quickly understand problems, come up with solutions and implement them independently. He possesses another undervalued trait - he doesn't hesitate to ask for help when he needs it.

• I thought I had written about them, but I have not. My friends Yeswanth and Suneela have started a travel blog. They also helped me plan my upcoming Cambodia trip. Check them out.
• Manju visited us on Saturday evening. Manju, Uma, and I went to Milton Street Cafe. Manju and I have this tradition of quick catch-ups with tea. It is our first catch-up in the Cooke town area. Our tea times are usually in and around Electronics City, where we grew up. Uma was in a good mood, spending half the time sitting in the baby seat and the other half talking to staff.
• We had a photo session this Sunday to capture Uma's morning activities. She is most active between 7 AM to 9 AM. Anushya Badarinath shot us. I loved photographs taken by her when Uma turned six months old. She is also generally fun to be around. So, I wholeheartedly recommend her if you are looking for a photographer.
• I wrote about my browser bookmarks sync setup. It's simple, easy to set up, and works like a charm.
• Appa was here for a couple of days. We applied for his visa. Since he doesn't have a surname, it's always a question, when the surname field is a compulsory field. First, I don't know why surname is a mandatory field. Anyway, application forms handle this scenario in various confusing ways - some expect No Name, some expect a given name as a last name, and others expect four spaces. So, it always needs research.
• I have not used my Yamaha in 14 years. I was not planning to sell it, and I don't know why I didn't use it during this period. Anyway, I want to; it's been sent to a garage dealing with Yamaha's. Hopefully, in a month, I can ride it. It's a small and old bike compared to the market today. But It has lots of emotional value that nothing else can match. It's the motorcycle that took me across India.
• I renewed my FSF Associate membership.