Georgia more of it

Now that I have completed 2 years in Georgia, it does feels like home. I have familiar favorite driving routes, favorite stores for particular items, and familiar strangers who are almost friends.

My initial experience posts are here and here.

Exploring the waterfalls of the state one by one. Every trail I went to and peeped at the woods, it reminded me of Hunger Games movie. Turns out, woods of District 12 in all 4 Hunger Games movies were shot right here in Georgia.

Lot of cultural outings. Atlanta Bunts Sangha organized a showing of Tulu movie Circus. Was a good outing and unique one for kids.

I don't think I have attended Carnatic Concerts live. Here I got to attend the Devotional Carnatic concert by Dr Vidyabhushana with Sitar Symphony.

And one by S Aishwarya & S Saundarya.

Yet I am still wide-eyed at some things uniquely Georgia.

There are ice-cream stores, which are one strip mall size with luxurious car-parking real-estate, then the eaters get to eat in open-air. No seating arrangements too. That's unique I would say. Make sense to gobble ice-cream in the heat.

And this state is truly multi-lingual. I did get a hint that this is a hub of immigrants. Once you are immune to the diverse faces, nothing highlights the diversity more than the smattering of languages you hear in a crowded places. There is always some Russian, Czech, Spanish, Chinese, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujrati, Arabic to be heard everywhere.

Anytime there is hurricane or low pressure in Florida, it will definitely be rainy monsoon here. Or mild windy day here, means storm in Florida. That's how much GA & FL are linked.

Fall ! Leaves ! Oh the never ending horror of it. Got a glimpse of it last year and full force this year. And then , there was a day in November, where it rained Acorns - yes a windy day blew all acorns from the tree. It hurt us & hurt the car. I chased and parked car far away.

The mosaic of shade & sunlight filtering through the trees onto the winding roads. As poetic as it sounds, its a driving hazard. Sunglasses can't handle that frequent light shifts. Even without one, its feels scary you might run someone over. And this in a country where almost no one almost jaywalks. 

Round-a-bouts - they are standard feature in Georgia. And very genius idea too. They are more efficient than 4-way STOP signals. They keep the traffic flowing.

Did I complain about Georgia's greenery enough ? Below is a view on the side of road undergoing expansion. The mountains of tree roots & stumps. After few weeks, there was a new realization and respect for the Georgia Road construction workers and companies. And for those from the past who built those single lane roads winding through forest between cities. They really cut through mountains and intense vegetation, to put it mildly.

Vibha Atlanta Dream Mile 2023 - Atlanta - 10K - Race Recap

 I ran the Vibha Atlanta Dream Mile 2023 10K race on 17-Sep-2023 Sunday morning.

Races are such rejuvenating experience. This race was well organized and a pleasant experience. 

It was a drizzly week and this Sunday morning was cloudy, dark, maybe 66F and very very light drizzle for some patches. Summer running outfit & shoes sufficed for this weather.

This race covered all type - 5K, Run/Walk, 10K and Half Marathon. It was staggered one of the other, so the race route never got lonely. The route was round-about, starting from the mall, partially on Peachtree parkway, more on the western home areas and back. So, this route was definitely packed with numerous uphill & downhill. Rain somehow did not make it slippery. And I think I have gotten used to this topography (something I always cribbed about), because a volunteer complimented me on an uphill I was climbing twice or so, "I love how you are pacing yourself".

Volunteer support was of full enthusiasm. They were throughout the route, guiding runners and frequent water support. There was no scope for getting lost. Big chuck of the volunteers were SEWA kids - and they were the best cheerleaders - hyping us up with loudspeakers. One particular boy was very persistent in cheering the ladies, "Aunty Run Aunty you can do it" :) He hyped my friend with his repeated "Aunty run"  and he even ran the last patch with her. While she was pleasantly irritated by being called Aunty so much, she finished at a great time.

Water & electrolyte support throughout was great. 10K running got a medal at the end along with water, banana & protein bars. The booths put up were fun. Lot of food ones too and a photo booth with airdrop to transfer to phone. And the race end prize announcements were an event. My friend won 2nd prize in her age category. Super thrilling.

Packet pickup at convenient location Big Peach Running Co.

There is one improvement the organizers could do. That is to add the starting location & parking location info in the website and emails sent out. Its not boldly mentioned, so I emailed the question. Fortunately someone replied immediately, so I was good. Later my friend guided me to the start location. Its obvious once you have run the race before, but for the first timer, there was no address mentioned.

Great  race overall

Books that started 2023

 So far, this year has been dominated by watching OTT & Movies. Lots were pumped out every week, it feels like. But I did manage to squeeze in a few books. 

Lessons in Chemistry - by Bonnie Garmus

Peppy writing style even on some very very serious events. 

Began the year with this one. Later found out they are making a movie too. I doubt the movie will be able to capture some of the perspective that come out in text. This sort of sarcastic & indirect style will be hard to translate on screen. I hope they make the movie interesting in some other way atleast.

Gen Z @ Work - by David Stillman and Jonah Stillman

Got this book in-order to make sense of this ever changing world. The world styed sameish for about 100 years. Then the pace of change was decade. And since past 25 years, things have been changing every 5 or lesser years. So tough to catch up. 

More than that, the existential question - should we catch up with the new which will go away in a few months or stay grabbing to the past which has survived of decades and more ? 

By coincidence it turned out to be by Minnesota based authors. Its not mentioned in the blurb or anywhere. I found out while reading through the passages.

Format of the book is interesting. David is Gen X and Jonah is a teenager Gen Z. To differentiate their commentary & perspective on different topics, they used normal and italics for their separate generation voices.  That helped, I will say. 

This book explains a lot of things in this ever changing world. The approach is mostly to showcase how each generation (traditionlist, boomer, Gen X, Milleniels & then the new Gen Z) thought, acted and their situation in each. Some assumptions where very simplistics - like boomers being parents of Milenials and Gen X being parent of Gen Z. For some it correctly lists out a lot of things that are typical of Gen Z while comparing with the Millenials, Xers and Boomers about the same topic. Lots of topics covered in the different chapters.

Press Start to Play - Short story collection

Last Black Friday, I bought XBox for myself, to step into the work of Video Games. Read more here about those adventures... With my past experience being limited to Tetris and Minessweeper, I decided to read up on games before I started.

Wide variety of short stories. Lot of them sci-fi and some in twilight horror category.

Notable ones - Andy Wiers, Anda's Game by Cory Doctorow.

The Tetris Effect - The Game That Digitised The World - Dan Ackerman

Got to see the Tetris movie released recently. Book was better. I mean, the movie is thriller format with lot of physical action. Same events & situations happen in the book but in a realistic fashion; and yet they were no less thrilling.

Covers a lot on how software business deals happened, at least in 80s & 90s. Communication might be faster now of course, but people dynamics still are the same. One book about current s/w business world was in the Instagram book. Other insights were about the beliefs and philosophy of the coding world - about the passion for free nature of open code and it becomes a sin when its popular, sharing via floppy disks and 80s & older models of desktops.

Part 1 dealt with the origin - Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers. Page 109 at best boom and bust cycles of the video game industry would go through over the years. In part 1, Bonus Level 1, Chapter 7 - Pa 73, Effect of Tetris on brain. I used to dream of Tetris bricks. Turns out was a universal phenomenon. Called Phantatronic.

Chapter 19 - Pg 191 to 195 - Cherry at the Gates was the most delicious chapter on direct negotiation meetings, various politics and consequences.

The Invisible Life of Addie Laurie - by V.E. Schwab

Whimsical, mystical,  Flowy language; poetic in many chapters. That alone lulls you to read more and never want to end the book.

 Faustian deal of soul is the basic premise. Set in NYC but travels to various places across different times. Deals with the theme of timelessness. Pg 201 (Food) and Pg 257 (miss structure).

Only Human - by Slyvain Neuvel

I am sorry but to be honest, I couldn't plod through the last book of this trilogy; even while I loved the previous two books. I flipped through the pages to get to the ending and even that I couldn't make it through.

Andrew Wyeth Close friends 

A collection of his paintings, made at different stages, of his neighbour friends from the place where he grew up & lived later years.

Older Reading lists: Entire Book list  | 2022 (2) | 2022 (1) | 2021 (2) | 2021(1) | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |

Puerto Rico Trip 2023

The very first week of Summer, we went for a week long Puerto Rico trip. The very first thing to hit us is how much like coastal India it was. I repeatedly said it for the first few days. Eyes wide open.

Beautiful island state. Great local people. 

Here is a bulletized itenary of the trip.

We arrived late Monday night. The night drive on PR-66 from Airport to Luquillo was a dream. 

View from the Luquillo Airbnb alone, was worth the visit. Endless sea and non-stop waves. Luquillo city was beautiful. The Airbnb was in a high-rise society exactly like in Pune or Bangalore. The houses around was like in Ulsoor or any coastal village. Cement construction, bright paints, and tile floors. Almost all apartments & house-bunglows were designed individually. All entrances were covered with iron bar coverings - all fancy designs like anywhere in India. Hardly any people outside during the day; which eventually made sense cause it was 90+F everyday and no one wants the home AC to escape and cool the city.

Tuesday we went on San Juan old town tour. Explored the cobbled street town, colorful buildings, fort and town shops.. Ended the day with dinner at a nearby restaurant. Mufungo for dinner

Wednesday morning, we were off on Catamaran ferry to Culebra island. An hour long ferry ride to the island and they let us loose for 4 hours. They provided a neat lunch as well. It was a great picnic, lazing & snorkeling in pristine blue water.  

Now precautionary list - get loaded up with strong sunscreen, hats, etc. If you are prone to Sunburn, then wear surfguard or rash guard full-sleeve tops, not any skimpy swim top. This is for males & females, kids & grownups. The combination of sea-water & sun for 4 hours is not safe for your skin. And second thing, don't wear your Garmin in water. I got ambitious and wanted to count the sea-walking miles. My 6 years old Garmin froze and conked off.

 

Thursday morning was revealing. Yesterdays 4 hours of sun and sea-water had worked its way into our skin. My kid and me were feverish with sun-burn. We refused to move out. Blacked out every window and doors. Spent all morning watching FUBAR on TV. Sun was the enemy today. Hubby & son had to step up for us. They went shopping in local stores and came back with life-saving supplies. Hubby made some comfort food in the AirBnB kitchen - rice & potatoes. Then Ibrupen and Banana Boat Soothing Aloe After Sun Gel helped a lot to recover from the sunburn & after-effects. By evening we were ready to dressup and step out in the sea.

Friday morning drove up to Mount  El Yunque National forest. We did not book tickets in advance, so did not enter it. Drive up the rain forest itself was a full on dejavu of Dakshina Kanada area ghats. 

In the afternoon, we took a ferry to Vigils island. From the ferry station, joined a shared van ride to Esperanza beach. The drive around the island was totally reminiscent of a drive around Goa. Trivia by the van owner, "This island has more wild horses than stray dogs". Yes, we saw lot of wild horses.

We spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach like Death in Paradise, doing absolutely nothing. The other attraction of this island is bioluminescence beach, which means booking & spending the night on the island. Since we were there on a Full moon night, the tour was closed. 

We returned to the station late night for last ferry. All passengers cordially waited for the station to open up. A drunk flew by on the night road, riding a horse without a saddle and playing loud music on his boombox. And then another guy on another horse. Watching other tourists with sunburnt back, made mine burn ! But the night was cool. Fishes & stingrays swam in the nearby waters. 

Saturday - Isla Verde beach and parasailing

We checked out of Luquillo AirBnB and on our morning drive out, we stopped & waited for an Iguana to cross the road

On the way to next residence, we spent the afternoon lounging on Isla Verde beach. Parking was a nightmare, but the beach was clean and crowded.

Kids went Para sailing while we sipped endless Pineapple filled with Pina Colada. Next day discovered some more sunburn through exposure. Sunscreens are great but sun is stronger.

We drove to Dorado very late at night and drove straight to the town square. It was nearly 1am and the town square was full of people reveling. Hyatt directions had a gap and we landed elsewhere. We called the Hyatt security guard and he directed us through the next 15 minutes drive. 

Sunday Morning view from the balcony showed that the Hyatt Dorado resort campus was paradise-ish.  

Private beach was peaceful long stretch. Sea was crystal clear to spot fishes. 

For dinner, we went out for some delicious local pizza at Faccio Pizza. Dorado city neighborhood was again like Indian bunglow and stores construction. No junk or garbage pile anywhere. 

Monday morning itself was 98F hot day. Sand was burning in through the flip-flops. Spent the morning in shaded pool and for afternoon spent chilling in blacked-out hotel room, watching phone videos & cable TV. In the evening, we decided to explore the west side of the island.

Road trip from Dorado to Agra Dilla. Saw wild cows, the same breed as Indian. There were hills on one side. My kid said those tree tops and hills looked exactly like how tiny kids usually draw squiggly lines hill drawings. Also spotted the huge campus of Abbvie company.

Sunset point at El Merendero De Guajataca. The park was lined up with Almond trees. There was an open-air yoga session going on. They didn't need a heated room. Even the evening air was loaded with humidity.

Magnificent 270 degree view of Pacific ocean.

Tuesday morning half was spent taking another dip in the ocean and the later half day travelling back home.

More Puerto Rico posts

Puerto Rico - Foods

The first week of June this summer, we went to Puerto Rico. In this post I will tackle the crucial topic of food.

Morning temps were in 80s and after 10am it was 90F-100F. And every movement was lazy.

One afternoon tour of Old San Juan and we indulged in street side slushies in Old San Juan cobbled streets.

Our first stay was in AirBnB in Luquillo, the East side of PR. So the first order of business - Walmart stop for basic supplies (shampoo, sunscreens, snacks, etc) that we couldn't get in our carry-on bag. There are a million of them everywhere. We picked the one in San Juan downtown. Parking here was in multiple level building, which means long line of carts to elevator & then beyond to the car. Prices were expectedly different from Walmarts in rest of USA. But best thing - it was a given to use our own grocery bags. Being tourists ofcourse we were not prepared for it. Plastic bags costed extra; but they were good quality thick plastic which we could reuse. That's one of the reasons, why they have a clean island & beaches. Everyone else gave us the side-eye. 

There was big variety in the local food scene in Luquillo. Tried different Mufungoes, which is famous in PR. Plantain Mufungo, Fish nuggets & Fried Crab Mufungo with the safe choices of Pasta.

The dining options in Hyatt Dorado Hacienda were good. Staff of Mahi Mahi Bar and Grill was overloaded but churned out everyone's orders well.

A whole complete breakfast which makes you feel you don't need lunch but no you do.

And then Red Snapper with rice & beans for lunch.

After an afternoon at Cabella beach, the Indian food craving hit us. We went to The India House nearby. Good quaint place. And pure coincidence, one of the managing guys actually flies in from Georgia to PR every few weeks.

Another day and another hunt for comfort food took us to Faccio Pizza.

 

On the climb to Mount Yonah, the vegetation was all tropical, reminding of Shiradi Ghat and similar. And likewise, there were Bonda (tender coconut) shop and tea shops along with Souvenir shops.

And throughout the stay, we drank loads of unlimited Mango slushies, Pina Colada & Pineapple drinks.

 

More Puerto Rico posts