There was a mattress store near my apartment in Providence which never had people in it. Since it lies between where I lived and a popular local taquería, the storefront was actually quite familiar to me. There would always be a sign reminiscent of Word’s Pop Art announcing a sale, and several mattresses lied in the darkness through the dusty panes of glass.
Not once did I notice the lights turned on. All this convinced me that this was in fact a front for the notorious mafia in Providence. After all, Providence was renounced for their intimate ties with organized crime, College Hill was not the cheapest real estate, and, most importantly, there were no, nil, nada, zip customers.
For four years of my time in PVD, it just sat there. Seemingly abandoned. I don’t know if I preferred it to be a barren storefront, or just one with no character. But eventually an electric bike company peddling (get it?) their wares took over the lease.
But perhaps, I misunderstand the economics of a quality mattress. Maybe selling one a week was enough to go even, with its high prices justified by the substantial mass of a mattress.
After all, a mattress should be hefty in weight, able to withstand the tossing and turning of the, sadly, probably overweight sleeper for years on end. The mattress might even increase in weight as the various dandruff, hair and dust mites bury themselves into the seams and folds of the mattress.
This means that a mattress flying through the air would be surprising…
… which is exactly what happened today when a mattress nearly landed on the hood of my car tonight while commuting back home.
Moral of the story: don’t buy mattresses which can fly when blown by gusts of air, but if you do, please dispose of it properly.
Given a set of positive integers $\{q_i\}_{i=1}^n$, describe the set $s_t \in S$ of positive integers such that there exists only one linear combination of $\sum_{i=1}^n a_i q_i = s_t$.
In the comic above, it’s pretty obvious with the amount of money given, that Calvin was hoping to get four “D”s. In fact, all integers from 1 to 9 can only be expressed in one permutation.
A satisfying answer to all sets of integers might be less trivial.
Laziness prompted me to buy a mandolin. It did expedite the slicing of my potatoes, but at a cost of some dermis from the knuckle of my middle finger. Hubris lost me that piece of skin.
Wow, this is so easy to slice by using my hand. Why use the protector. Only dumb peo….
Worse of all, since I wasn’t done with the dish, I had to painstakingly finish the recipe with only one hand. Arranging the sliced potatoes vertically in the casserole dish can be a real spud in the butt as one might say.
For the Black Friends-day dinner the next day, I made the same potato gratin dish again. This time using the protector the entire time. I stayed whole. The dish stayed delicious (because how can it not be? It had two cups of heavy cream and another half pound of premium cheese. It’ll be difficult to make it not delicious), and life was joyous.
I guess the lesson here is that I should’ve bought a mandolin awhile ago, back when I was young, limber and heal from scrapes in half an hour rather than the six hours it took for the wound to congeal. Pride will never change.
On an tangent, I really cannot find the connection of the word mandolin the instrument versus mandolin the slicer. There is a website which claims that the tool was named because the action resembled the strumming movement of mandolin the instrument but that sounds bonkers to me.
I went to Turkey for a total of ten days this past October, and it was a great trip. The amount of cultural heritage everywhere is unprecedented for me; it felt that every patch of land had some sort of historical significance. This was paired with awesome, unique natural features that I’ve never seen anywhere else.
The trip started in Istanbul where I only stayed for two nights. One could theoretically stay for far longer in this bustling metropolis, but I felt that I saw enough. It was also incredibly overwhelming in terms of people density, even for me who actually enjoys NYC.
The highlights in Istanbul is quite easily the Hagia Sophia, and the Basilica Cistern. The former is free as it’s a working mosque, but the line is wild at peak times. I went during the morning right before it opened, and the line winded down a side street. I did have a nice conversation with a short British woman and her six feet four husband. The Basilica Cistern does cost money, and the line is still an issue. I managed virtually zero wait by going near closing time. Nevertheless, these historical structures were breathtaking.
Other highlights include Topkapi palace with its many antiquities, and a cruise around the Bosphorus strait. Unfortunately for me, the Blue Mosque was still under renovations and I couldn’t appreciate the full splendor.
Besides the sights, Istanbul was very pedestrian-friendly and had a wealth of shopping. My excursion into the Grand Bazaar was unfruitful shopping-wise, but it’s still a sight to behold the many shops. I went with a cheap culinary experience, which was quite easy but I did overspend one meal… by around 2 dollars. I think the lesson is to avoid places with bi-modal reviews.
Grand Bazaar
I then went to Selcuk and the nearby Ephesus, eponym of the book of Ephesians. Here is really where the history became tangible (tbh, my Caliphates history is pretty rough): I probably walked the same steps that the apostle Paul and Mary strolled two thousand years ago. The actual Roman town was very well preserved, and it felt more Roman than Rome due to the lack of cars around. Finally, I went by a former Sevens Wonders: the Temple of Artemis. Unfortunately, the only thing that remains is a single column and the grounds are mostly peddlers.
There were a few other attractions around Selcuk such as the place where Mary allegedly died, a local redoubt, and the ruins of St. John Basilica. Selcuk itself was quite fun to walk around with cheap food and locals everywhere. I far enjoyed my time there compared to Istanbul.
Ephesus theaterTemple of ArtemisLibrary of Celsus
Afterwards, I took a day trip to Pamukkale, which was arguably one of the highlights of the trip. Due to the contents in the hot springs, an alien-like waterfall structure built up. The Romans realized this and built a town around it with a well-preserved theater. The star was definitely the warm waterfall though. This place deserves its UNESCO heritage site designation. But maybe the most curious thing is the number of “influencers” trying to take their Insta pics…
Hierapolis theaterPamukkale fallsPamukkale falls
Finally, I went to Ankara to visit an old office mate. We visited the local museum where I saw the skull of the King Midas, much to my surprise. We also ended up eating a good deal of food. Speaking of dining, I really do enjoy the freshness of the cuisine in Turkey. It seems that the cherry tomatoes in Turkey did have more flavor with an basil-esque aftertaste. There are also a lot more more lamb-based foods plus fresh Mediterranean seafood which I enjoyed. Unfortunately, the food was not as cheap as I thought it would be. Thanks Obama.
Lastly, the trip ended up in Cappadocia. The area felt like the hoodoos that I saw in New Mexico, but just at a far larger scale with more varied terrain and water. Furthermore, there were old Christian churches carved into the features. This area was truly unique in both the historical significance and natural wonders. In addition, there are also the possibility for balloon rides! I think I could’ve spend another day there with how many features that I didn’t get to see.
As for some closing thoughts, I felt a bit bad for not talking to that many Turkish people. I stayed in hotels (in fact, got upgraded from a hostel since it was low season) and mainly kept to myself due to possible scams. Nevertheless, the people I talked to were all nice and respectful to a clear foreigner.
Lastly, there are a lot of cats… petting them all would’ve took forever.
Recently went on a fifteen mile round trip hike to Jordan Hot Springs in the Gila Wilderness. I’m still not used to the variation in the landscape of New Mexico. The trail mostly lies within a canyon with a river carving through it.
The most fun part of the trail is definitely the river crossings. Successfully fording a river really does make one feel like an adventurer. Oh, and the hot springs was nice to I guess. It’s nice that I didn’t die from the amoeba.
Then the other day, I finally went to a concert in New Mexico to a band that I know and love. The Head and The Heart was playing at the Ladder to the Moon festival. On a whim, I decided to drive the 2 hours to northern NM and see them during the lunar new moon.
It was an awesome show.
On a side note, having great ear plugs really make concerts so much better.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been taking a beginner improv class as a way to meet people and broaden my horizons. Overall, the experience has been highly positive and I’ve learned a great deal on not just improv, but comedy as a whole.
The first phrase I have been telling friends what the classes are like is “adult daycare.” Certainly a lowbrow phrase, but how else can one interpret a class where we try to channel different levels of an animal? Or one where we try to perform a Busby Berkeley dance without a priori discussion? Another great example of an improv game that I (and I suspect many kids) would enjoy is equivalent to the everyone-tell-a-story-but-can-only-say-one-word.
At some point, silliness from all becomes just straight up fun. The key phrase there is “from all”: we all paid for the lessons, and thus had a stake in being whimsical. I’m glad none of my classmates hesitated to do any of the exercises and in fact most put themselves out there. This was one of the lessons from improv: action with confidence supersedes hesitancy, especially if no one knows what you’re doing.
Joking aside, it’s been actually very informative on what exactly makes good improv, well, good. Some can be attributed to the spontaneity of the performers, but there are general frameworks which help add structure. For one, we learned that it’s much easier to grasp a scene if we self-impose a goal and also add some sort of familiar relationships between the characters. People can grasp onto the characters much easier that way, and there’s established frameworks to manipulate.
As something that I signed up for willy-nilly turned out to be quite the happy accident. I really did enjoy the class and the challenges it gave me.
Rodrigo never intended to have an especially busy day on the 12th. Of course, he had to make a trip to the farmer’s market to get those specialty onions he loved (they were sweeter than the ones in the grocery store), but otherwise the Saturday was completely free. It was a much needed reprieve from the onslaught of work recently with another twelve hour shift on the 13th.
The day started out as planned: waking up with the sun’s rays gently urging his eye lids to make way, with no particular rush. The drive to the market was a smooth twenty minutes. Somehow, traffic was especially clear, and so was the line for the produce. Within an hour, Rodrigo was back home caramelizing the onions for soup and toasting bread. The rest of the day was a blur of mindless entertainment from the multitude of streaming sources while sipping on the French onion soup.
Trish’s Saturday was quite the opposite. Since winter still maintained its grasp on the mornings, she wanted to hike along the foothills in the weak heat of the afternoon. The morning therefore was filled with scrubbing and cleaning. She always loved the sense of accomplishment from finishing chores.
As the hike was finishing up, she got a text from Frank, that cute guy she’s been texting.
“hey, lost our fourth from trivia in 30 @ gecko’s, you in? sorry for short notice!”
The deliberation was short. Whilst her legs were jelly, she didn’t smell too bad since it was still chilly and Frank was, by all accounts, a catch.
“ofc, see you soon :)”
Trish and Frank’s team never came close to winning. No one on the team knew any Madonna songs nor read Julius Caesar. She got home more than ten hours after she left for the trailhead.
Though their days progressed thoroughly differently, Rodrigo and Trish both ended with a hot shower, one where “ahhhh”s were spoken, the true mark of a good day.
The last three weeks has been terrible in every sense of the word with the outbreak of war in Europe. Even though I’m more than eight time zones way from the action, my anxiety level is through the roof, and has caused my heart rate to spike. Part of the reason is that I have absolutely no control over the situation. Nothing I do can effect the news.
I think one indication of maturity level is how one handles helplessness. As my world opened up while aging, there’s more and more things which I can’t change. The way I fundamentally look, the way mustard taste, the way someone else feels about you. And now, the way global geopolitics is shaping up for the foreseeable future.
My approach right now is best encapsulated by Vonnegut’s “so it goes.” It’s okay to be frustrated at what’s going on. In fact, one should absolutely be aghast at what’s happening to the climate crisis, Ukraine war, the pandemic… but alas, what can I do besides my little part?
It’s odd how I think about this right now. Perhaps it’s a strategy to deal with overwhelming anxiety, but I always believed that I have an internal locus of control. I firmly believe that my future is under my control, but having moved to ABQ, home of a nuclear lab, I fully realized that if nuclear war were to break out, I would be incinerated instantly. Furthermore, there’s also issues of health in my family that I can’t control. It just sucks that as we age, chaos increasingly dominates our life and helplessness goes up.
I recently had an epitome the other day: having fun skiing entails skiing less.
Ski Santa Fe
The logic is simple. A tired skier is an unhappy skier. A tired skier is a an injury-prone skier. A tired skier is a miserable skier.
Another particular benefit of skiing less is I can save money, since many ski parks offer half-day passes for a discount. By only opting for the afternoon session, I also get to experience a warmer day with less crowds since après ski tend to set in around lunch time. There’s also the fact that I could sleep in more, and not contend with the early morning rush.
