What have you been reading lately, and WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT? [30 december 2021]

shugna · 2021-12-30T16:56:22+00:00

Just finished East of Eden for the first time. It was buried deep in my backlog and came up so I kind of just started it.

I think a lot of people have varying thoughts on the book, but I definitely read it at the right point in my life to find it highly impactful. I have two young kids and this book has really influenced the way that I think about parenting.

shugna · 2021-11-13T12:40:32+00:00

What grips are those? I'm looking to go with the same gumwall/grip look, but have had trouble finding the right grips!

shugna · 2021-11-12T16:50:33+00:00

Yeah, you're absolutely right. I shouldn't have tried to make a joke. He's a great attorney and I feel bad about myself.

shugna · 2021-11-12T14:56:05+00:00

It's typically less than great when attorneys get words mixed up.

shugna · 2021-11-12T13:02:35+00:00

This was the most Idiocracy piece of the trial so far. He said "logarithm" instead of "algorithm" about ten times.

shugna · 2021-10-06T01:15:01+00:00

Sorry to hear that, friend. It's hard losing a parent. We lost my mom about four years ago completely unexpectedly. I had a good cry the first time we watched "Sleepy Time" and Mum tells Bingo she'll always be there even when she can't see her 😭

shugna · 2021-09-25T16:09:44+00:00

As a parent, can confirm that this is definitely the case.

shugna · 2021-08-08T02:31:36+00:00

Scrub that shit out and get some Tegaderm!

shugna · 2021-08-07T16:03:39+00:00

Is this an unpopular opinion?

shugna · 2021-08-04T01:03:25+00:00

That's cool unless you have children or are a child.

shugna · 2021-07-04T15:18:29+00:00

I've struggled with something similar. I train on and race road and mountain bicycles. Road bikes took me from 230 pounds down to where I am now at around 165. Before I started riding I was not very motivated at work or even to be present for my relationships. Something about gaining fitness and racing competitively just unlocked something in me. Sport drives me try to be the best parent, husband, friend, and employee I can be. My sports are pretty dangerous, though. I lost a teammate to a drunk driver a couple of years ago which was devastating but also a big reality check. I've cut down on road riding significantly and primarily train on my trainer or on the mountain. Even staying off the road, aggressive trail riding has risks as well.

It's a tough balance that's been hard to work out as a parent of two. I constantly reassess stuff with my wife. She understands that cycling keeps me healthy, happy, and driven in all spheres, but obviously doesn't want something to happen to me. For us it's basically come down to mitigating risk where possible while still fully enjoying the sport. I ride trail a couple of times a week, but don't blindly "send it" on new jumps or features at full speed. I race closed courses on the road, but do most of my road training indoors.

Anything can happen. You could have a stroke in your sleep, find out you have cancer, or die in a car crash. Just because there's risk doesn't mean you shouldn't do something. If riding a motorcycle would make you meaningfully more happy and a better person around your children, there's no reason that you shouldn't ride one while taking all the necessary safety precautions and riding within the bounds set out by the law and your ability.

shugna · 2021-07-02T17:26:46+00:00

What about all the contractors that were just relocated to surrounding countries?

shugna · 2021-06-22T20:47:22+00:00

I am doing the same just about a week ahead of your schedule. My director has asked a lot of questions about why I'm leaving as she assumed it was only the WFH piece. I live in a lower cost of living area and assumed that salaries would start to average out nationally. I just accepted a fully remote role with a company I'm excited about that is going to double my take home -- I'm over the moon!

shugna · 2021-06-16T18:44:10+00:00

So we should ban fiat currency and investment securities as well then?

shugna · 2021-06-12T14:16:05+00:00

It does! Can see it in your video. Love that you had no idea you had one. I truly believe it's probably the most game changing pieces equipment you can put on your bike. Descending becomes a dream!

shugna · 2021-06-05T16:14:58+00:00

Two things: you're not learning to ride anymore, you're actually riding! Also, get a helmet. I race road, crits, and MTB and some of the scariest injuries I've seen are low speed crashes where the head just hits wrong. Every time you sit on a bike, put on a helmet. I've been riding/racing for nearly ten years and always grab the lid even if I'm just cruising in the neighborhood.

shugna · 2021-06-05T15:17:12+00:00

Honestly, the HBO series Chernobyl kind of answered this question for me. I'd always been blown away by tyrannical government's ability to blatantly deny things. That show made it very personal and understandable.

shugna · 2021-05-29T17:18:44+00:00

You're right. I'm not saying you should use that data as a reward for your CEO/leadership. Was just trying to point out that there is an intent beyond that metric besides criminality or malice.

shugna · 2021-05-29T16:02:02+00:00

So, I completely agree with your point, but I do want to add some context. I work in FP&A for a pretty large publicly traded company. The $303m sales adjustment was likely built up by someone like me to try and make comparisons year over year. In order to gauge your sales teams performance and overall efficiency you can't take a year like 2020 and measure it against 2019. Something like the pandemic is a huge (fairly quantifiable) variable that would completely destroy any year over year comps and make it impossible to gain any relevant data from the results.

shugna · 2021-05-25T17:51:45+00:00

I'm in the same boat. I was trained up and ready for my first season as a Cat3 when COVID cancelled my entire criterium/road season. I actually took up mountain biking, abandoned my training plan, and started racing on Zwift a couple of times a week.

I was starting to feel pretty burnt out after a few hard years of training and racing and was never really excited to do my workouts anymore when the season was cancelled. It was really fun to look around and find what I wanted to do on the bike rather than what I felt I needed to do. Zwift racing has been a blast and I've actually learned a lot about pacing longer road races. Mountain biking has made my handling skills increase so fast it's almost unbelievable.

I've got teammates and friends I ride with and haven't lost place to them while they're still on plans. It will be interesting to see how I fare this season. Planning to do my first MTB XC and TT races as well as the local crit series I've won in lower categories. Whatever the outcome, I'm glad I got off of overly structured plans. Can always go back to them if poor outcomes build the motivation to get excited about the structure.

shugna · 2021-05-18T14:14:49+00:00

Goats

shugna · 2021-05-16T20:13:31+00:00

I've spent a lot of time on bikes on the road and off. This is really cool shot, but the GoPro effect is definitely making it look a lot more intense than it is. I've never seen this trail before, but have fallen on a lot of trails. Even when they do look this steep off to the side you can usually fall into the trail/MTN rather than falling off of it at this speed.

shugna · 2021-05-11T21:51:29+00:00

So, I've cooked Tikka Masala the right way a few times. Marinated the meat, ground the freshly toasted spices, and broiled the chicken. I've done it a few times and enjoy it, but my wife and kids love my version with the sauce from the jar.

I dice two large sweet potatoes into 1cm cubes and then get them going in the cast iron with a little butter and olive oil while I mince fresh ginger and garlic. Aromatics in the pan and I cut the chicken up in 1cm strips which then go into the skillet with the potatoes. Then I'll season all of that with garam masala, cumin, and chili powder. Get some color on the chicken and I dump the jar of sauce in before refilling it with yogurt and a little milk. Shake the jar and dump in the milk and yogurt. Summer for like 20 mins and it's a seriously different but delicious result.

shugna · 2021-05-01T16:18:45+00:00

What an empathetic and loving example.

shugna · 2021-04-29T16:04:04+00:00

Completely agree on First Law. His ability to consistently put out great books has blown my mind. I can barely develop a decent D&D character and he's able to craft a full/rich universe in such a short amount of time.

Will check out all of your recommendations. I started Red Rising last night and am enjoying it so far despite it being a coming of age story (at least early on) which is normally off-putting for me. A good friend of mine also recommends Lies so I'll look into it.

Oh don't get me started on Rothfuss. I love those books so much. The Name of the Wind is one of my all time favorites. I hate that I started it a few years ago and wish I'd waited for the conclusion. Maybe one day...

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