Life Log: March/April 2024

May 25, 2024

Again better late than never! Two months for the price of one this time.

📚 Reads

Episode 67: El robo (The Robbery) (Duolingo podcast). I've started studying Spanish again! (Well, I currently have a year+ streak on Duolingo, but I've started more actively working on my Spanish again.) This mini-series from the Duolingo podcast is about one of the greatest heists in history -- a bank robbery in Buenos Aires in 2006. It was recommended as a good practice for the imperfect tense, and it was so well produced. I enjoyed it a lot.
FIELD TRIP: I Chase the 2024 Eclipse with Umbraphiles (Ologies podcast). Alie Ward is a gem of a curious human. It was fun to experience the eclipse and totality, and then listen to her recount her journey to see the eclipse.
It Sucks to Be 33 (The Daily podcast). I was actually 33 at the time I listened to this. Turned 34 in April. (Happy birthday to me, another successful rotation 💪🏼).
'Blood Money': Inside the global business of selling plasma (On Point podcast). I didn't honestly know a lot about this. It was a good listen.

Gyeongseong Creature (Netflix). Heartbreaking. So good. Highly recommend.
The Gentlemen (Netflix). Crime comedy, class satire. Entertaining. Love Theo James.
Office Break Yoga | 14-Minute Yoga Practice (Yoga with Adriene, YouTube). I have a standing desk and a walking pad. I do most of my morning seated (my heavy meeting times), and try to do most of my afternoons standing. I'm still really feeling the effects of sitting so much. This has been a good go-to midday office stretch routine.
I Had Chemo and My Hair Came Back Curly! (SciShow, YouTube) I'm an unashamed Hank Green stan, but I appreciated this video in particular. He's been devastatingly giving in sharing his cancer treatment experience with his trademark curiosity.
Formula 1 cars, explained for rookies (with Max Verstappen) (Cleo Abram, YouTube). Having started watching the F1 docu-series on Netflix, I have a greater appreciation and interest in the engineering involved in F1 cars. This was a cool feature, and it's fun to watch Cleo Abram nerd out.

Indian Wells Open. I have always wanted to go to this tennis tournament, and this year it happened! My mom and I were there for the bee invasion, which was quite unexpected. We went to two of the earlier days, and then I impulse purchased nosebleed seats for the finals. (There's really not a bad seat in the house at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, it's beautiful). Swiatek v. Sakkari and Alcaraz v. Medvedev. I enjoyed every minute of it.
April 8, 2024 total eclipse. Unreal. We watched from our backyard in the middle of the work day for a late lunch break. Austin was in the path of totality -- 1:36pm. Didn't have any great camera gear, ended up doing a timelapse of the light change. One of those moments that make you feel like a small part of something grand. Unfortunately it was an overcast day, but we had two really good windows of visibility during totality. A school is not far from where we live, and we could always tell when the clouds cleared because you could hear kids shouting with excitement.
Pickleball. Played pickleball for the first time! Subbed for a friend in their rec league. The tennis definitely translates! It felt like large-scale ping-pong. (It did feel more like ping-pong than tennis to me). Overall -- fun time, but absolutely obnoxious sound.