Note: This continues my nasty habits series: licking, scraping, and nibbling - in which I mentioned fiddling with nails. There are three irreplacable possessions in my room: My phone, because it authorizes lots of services. My laptops, because they have un-backed-up data. My toenails, because the good ones are rare. Here are two good ones I’ve had for a few months. The ones best for fiddling are from the toe thumb. They typically have: ...
In 2025, I’m playing Goals Bingo. I want to complete one row or column of these goals. Here’s my status from Jan – Jun 2025. 🟢 indicates I’m on track and likely to complete. 🟡 indicates I’m behind but I may be able to hit it. 🔴 indicates I’m behind and it’s looking hard. Domain Repeat Stretch New People 🟢 Better husband. Going OK 🟡 Meet all first cousins. 8/14 🟢 Interview 10 experts. 11/10 🟡 Live with a stranger. Tried homestay - doesn’t count Education 🔴 50 books. 6/50 🟡 Teach 5,000 students. ~1,500 🟡 Run a course only with AI. Ran a workshop with AI Technology 🟢 20 data stories. 10/20 🔴 LLM Foundry: 5K MaU. 2.2K MaU. 🟡 Build a robot. No progress. 🟢 Co-present with an AI. Done Health 🟢 300 days of yoga. 183/183 days 🟡 80 heart points/day. Far from it 🔴 Bike 1,000 km 300 hrs. Far from it 🟢 Vipassana. 2 Jul 2025 Wealth 🔴 Buy low. No progress. 🔴 Beat inflation 5%. Not started. 🟡 Donate $10K. Ideating. 🔴 Fund a startup. Not started. At the moment, there’s no row or column that looks like a definite win. ...
This is the third post in my “Nasty habits” series following Licking and Scraping. Nibbling is biting, but only with the incisors. Not the canines or molars. And it’s a delight. Nibbling is not uncommon. People tend to nibble on all kinds of stuff. Pens, erasers, straws, gums, clothes, buttons, spoons, rubber bands, paper, toothbrush, cups, bottles, cables, gadgets, books, chalk, coins. It’s a long list. But I don’t do those. I nibble only food and body parts. ...
Here’s the report card for my 2024 resolutions: Compound long-term goals, daily. PASS. I managed to work continuously build on 6 areas in 2024: Blogging about 50 posts on my blog and on LinkedIn Weekly notes of things I learned Teaching Tools in Data Science (repo) Reading only Manga Experimenting with LLM applications LLM Evangelization through LLM Foundry, Straive’s LLM portal. Hit 80 heart points, daily. FAIL. I stopped exercise in the second half and gained 7 kgs. Be a better husband. PASS. My wife confirmed that I was “definitely worse in 2023 than 2024.” My most memorable events in 2024 were: ...
In 2021, I made 3 resolutions. Lose 10 kgs. I lost 5 kg in 3 months. But gained it back by the year-end. Fail big. I practiced confronting people – and failed. I still run from fights. Even when important. Calendar integrity. I stuck to my calendar 90% of the time. But personal commitments slipped. On learning, I discovered network clusters. My PyCon talk on movie networks is the start of a fascinating exploration of actors that I’ll write more about. ...
Some years ago, a friend asked me to write about how I manage my time. It seemed to him I was doing a good job of it, given that I had time to pursue my interests. It’s something I tried to do consciously. Every few years, I used to go down the route of “time management”. I’d read stuff and try it out. But over time, I’ve come to believe that “time” is not really “manageable”. Think about it: are most of your actions planned? Me, I just react out of habit, no matter how well planned I try to be. What I do is largely driven by what I’m in the habit of doing. ...