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content/2022 Europe Trip.md

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+# 2022 Europe Trip
+#publish 
+The result of [[Traveling after leaving Cloud SQL]]. I solo traveled Europe between [[2022-05-04]] and [[2022-05-25]].
+## California Bay Area (Day 0)
+[[2022-05-04|Wednesday, May 4]]
+- Packed my bags for London.
+- 8pm: Caught my plane!
+
+## London (Days 1-4)
+[[2022-05-05|Thursday, May 5]]
+- 2pm: Landed.
+- Took the tube to Wombat's City Hostel.
+- Ran for 3 miles.
+- 9pm: Called it an early night.
+
+[[2022-05-06|Friday, May 6]]
+- 4am: Woke up, played Pokemon, and fell back asleep.
+- 8am: Woke again.
+- Got an English breakfast.
+- Felt horribly sick.
+- Got a negative COVID test.
+- Visited Denmark St.
+- Got lunch at a Google office.
+- 7pm: Slept early again.
+
+[[2022-05-07|Saturday, May 7]]
+- 6am: Woke feeling _much_ better.
+- Walked to:
+	- London Bridge.
+	- St. Paul's Cathedral.
+	- British Museum.
+	- Borough Market.
+- Got a meat pie for lunch from the Market.
+- 2pm: Saw Julius Caesar in the Globe Theatre.
+- Visited Tate Modern.
+- 6:30pm: Dinner at the Mudlark.
+- Laundry.
+- Bought Eurostar tickets to Paris.
+
+[[2022-05-08|Sunday, May 8]]
+- 7:30am: Woke up.
+- Stored my luggage at the hostel.
+- Tube to Baker St.
+- Lovely breakfast at the Potting Shed.
+- Walk-biked to Abbey Rd.
+- Walk-tubed to:
+	- Big Ben.
+	- London Eye.
+- Dropped by Tate Modern to buy a souvenir mug.
+- Picked up my bags from Wombat's.
+- Went to St. Pancras International Station.
+- Changed my ticket from the 7pm train to the 4:30pm train.
+- 8:30pm: Arrived in Gare du Nord, Paris.
+- 9:30pm: Arrived at Hotel Madrigal.
+- Met Wit! He invited me to stay at his place in Warsaw.
+
+## Paris (Days 5-7)
+[[2022-05-09|Monday, May 9]]
+- 9am: Woke up.
+- Best meal of my whole trip at Coutume.
+- Walked to:
+	- The Louvre.
+	- Centre Pompidou.
+	- Marche des enfants rouges (which was closed).
+	- 5pm: McDonalds.
+	- Iles du cite.
+		- Saint-Chapelle (which was closed).
+		- Notre Dame (which was closed due to having been on fire).
+- Second best meal of my trip at Cafe Louise.
+- Scooped my stuff from Hotel Madrigal.
+- 10:30pm: Arrived at Karl's place in Boulogne-Billancourt.
+
+[[2022-05-10|Tuesday, May 10]]
+- 9am: Woke up.
+- 11am: Nice cafe near Karl's place.
+- Went to the Musée d'Orsay.
+- Coffee in the Jardin des Tuileries.
+- Macarons at Angeline.
+- More coffee at Boulangerie Eric Kayser.
+- Returned to Saint-Chapelle in time to see the interior.
+- Watched the sunset over the Seine.
+- 8:30pm: Worst meal of my trip at Café Varenne.
+- 10pm: Arrived at Karl's place and slept.
+
+[[2022-05-11|Wednesday, May 11]]
+- 8:30am: Woke up.
+- Delphine kindly brought me some tea and pastries.
+* Bought tickets to Brussels, Bruges, and Brussels again so I could make a theoretical flight to Copenhagen/Prague/Warsaw.
+* 12pm: Went into the Jardin area with Karl via electric scooter.
+* 1pm: Lunch at Google Paris.
+* Went to the Musée de l'Orangerie.
+* Got coffee.
+* Made this page!
+* Got a souvenir shirt at Printemps.
+* Touristy trap French onion soup for dinner.
+* Dessert with Karl and Delphine.
+* 12am: Slept.
+
+## Brussels (Days 7-8)
+[[2022-05-12|Thursday, May 12]]
+- 6am: Woke up to travel to Gare du Nord.
+- Got a sandwich and chocolate bread from Paul at the station.
+- Caught my train to Brussels.
+- 12:30pm: Arrived at the Latroupe Grand Place hostel and dropped my bags.
+- Walked to:
+	- Église Saint-Nicolas.
+	- The Grand-Place.
+	- Musée de la ville de Bruxelles (Grand-Place museum).
+	- Garde Robe Manneken Pis (pissing statue museum).
+	- Manneken Pis (the boy himself).
+	- Poechenellekelder (beer garden).
+	- Le Roy d'Espagne (restaurant in the Grand-Place).
+	- _The red light district OOPS_.
+- 8pm: Slept early.
+
+[[2022-05-13|Friday, May 13]]
+- 8am: Woke up.
+- Subway to Atomium.
+- Walk-subwayed to:
+	- Suburban Brussels.
+	- Some grill place.
+	- Palace of Justice.
+	- Notre Dame cathedral.
+- Ate crepes and fries for dinner... too much food.
+- Booked tickets for Bruges hostel, Brussels hostel, and flights to Prague.
+- 11:30pm: Slept.
+
+## Bruges (Days 9-10)
+[[2022-05-14|Saturday, May 14]]
+- 7:30am: Woke up.
+- 9am: Caught a train to Bruges.
+- 10am: Arrived and walked 30 min to the St. Christopher's Bauhaus hostel where I stored my bags for a 2pm check-in.
+- Wandered around on foot and saw incredibly beautiful sights:
+	- Pop-up arts stand selling ceramics.
+	- Waffle shop.
+	- Church bells eventually leading to the Grote Markt (market square) next to the Belfry.
+	- A shop just for little kids shoes.
+	- 2 pop-up music stages next to the Church of the Holy Blood.
+- 2:30pm: Checked into the hostel and rested a bit where I met Waell.
+- Walked around more:
+	- Windmills on the outskirts of Bruges.
+	- Riverside cafe with a beer I liked a lot.
+	- Misc outskirts of the city where I caught a Shellos.
+- 10:30pm: Slept.
+
+[[2022-05-15|Sunday, May 15]]
+- 8am: Woke due to Waell's mumbling.
+- Had the second worst shower of my life.
+- 10:40am: Climbed the Belfry.
+- Dipped into Elisabeth to buy chocolates.
+- 12:30pm: Went to a super cute brunch restaurant called That's Toast.
+- Walked around a _lot_ of the city catching Pokemon for the water festival mega energy quests.
+- 9pm: Caught a train back to Brussels with a painful amount of PDA across from me.
+- Train back to Brussels at 9pm, crashing in the hostel in order to catch a plane the next day.
+
+## Prague (Days 11-13)
+[[2022-05-16|Monday, May 16]]
+- 8:30am: Woke up.
+- Multithreaded laundry with shower and breakfast.
+	- Just kidding. This was the worst meal of the trip.
+	- Plus the shower flooded my room.
+- Took an Uber to the airport.
+- While in the airport I booked a hotel. After the flooding I am so done with living in hostels.
+- 2:40pm: Caught a plane to Prague.
+- 4pm: Arrived in Prague airport.
+- 5pm: Arrived at Hotel Atos.
+- Potatoed.
+- 7:30pm: Got food at Luka Li.
+- Potatoed until 1am.
+- 1am: Slept.
+
+[[2022-05-17|Tuesday, May 17]]
+- 9:30am: Woke up.
+- 11am: Breakfast at Bella Vida Café.
+- Took some ritalin and worked by the riverbank near the hotel.
+	- Put together an album of the food I'd eaten.
+	- Messaged Cloud SQL about my adventures.
+- Wandered back to my hotel eventually.
+- 6pm: Wandered outside past:
+	- A shopping mall.
+	- The Státní operahouse.
+	- A tall black tower I can't find the name of (Senovážné Square building?).
+	- The Prašná brána tower gate.
+	- Čech Bridge.
+	- Climbed up to the Vyhlídka na Letné (View of Letné) / Prague Metronome.
+- 8:30pm: Dinner at U Pivrnce.
+- Walked through:
+	- Staroměstská Mostecká Věž (Old Town Bridge Tower).
+	- Karlův most (Charles Bridge).
+	- Caught a brief glimpse of Prague Castle.
+- 10pm: Back at the hotel.
+- 3am: Slept after procrastinating playing LoR.
+
+[[2022-05-18|Wednesday, May 18]]
+- chill in Prague
+- Got lunch at the Google office.
+- Visited the national museum.
+- Visited Prague Castle.
+- Souvenir: Bought crystal glasses.
+- 
+
+## Warsaw (Day 14)
+[[2022-05-19|Thursday, May 19]]
+- Fly to Warsaw in the morning at 9:55am-11:15am.
+- Crash at Wit's place in the evening.
+
+
+## Riga (Day 15-18)
+[[2022-05-20|Friday, May 20]]
+- Hang in Warsaw for the morning / partial afternoon
+- Plane in the afternoon to Riga at 
+
+[[2022-05-21|Saturday, May 21]]
+- chill in riga
+
+[[2022-05-22|Sunday, May 22]]
+- chill in riga
+
+[[2022-05-23|Monday, May 23]]
+- catch a plane back home to SF
+
+
+...
+
+[[2022-05-24|Tuesday, May 24]]
+- chill in riga
+
+[[2022-05-25|Wednesday, May 25]]
+- Plane to SF in the morning... need to work this out
+
+(Ok the following isn't really the Europe trip anymore)
+
+## California Bay Area
+[[2022-05-26|Thursday, May 26]]
+- asdf
+
+[[2022-05-27|Friday, May 27]]
+- Flight to Boston in the evening.
+
+## Boston
+[[2022-05-28|Wednesday, May 28]]
+- First day in Boston.
+
+[[2022-05-29|Wednesday, May 29]]
+- Etc.
+
+...

content/2023-11-25 - On disability and being injured away from home.md

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+# 2023-11-25 - On disability and being injured away from home
+#publish
+Written [[2023-11-25]]. Part of [[Musings on philosophy]].
+
+My 26th birthday present was a back injury. I lifted some weights wrong at a hotel gym visiting New Jersey, then, suddenly, _pop_ - the ground is really comfortable and I'd like to keep both knees at 90 degree angles while I'm down here please.
+
+A herniated disc is such a suitable injury to mark a birthday occasion, too. How better to symbolize one's late 20s[^1] than googling medical questions about your back?
+
+![[20231124_191040-COLLAGE.jpg]]
+_In the morning, I walk on 0 legs. In the afternoon, 0. in the evening, still 0. Which in-network doctors are open tonight?_
+
+Anyways. Having been floor-ridden for 24+ hours, I reflect on several things...
+
+### On disability and gratefulness
+My biggest takeaway from yesterday is that **the sensation of loss is a whole lot more vivid than the sensation of having or even gaining \[the thing you lost].**
+
+Cases in point:
+
+1) I vividly experience being unable to walk. But I don't vividly experienced walking.
+
+Or:
+
+2) I vividly experience the cancellation of this week's plans. As someone who doesn't live in NYC, I'd set up a dozen+ things to do, between clubs, shopping, art shows, office coffees, ... and I vividly experience the sensation of those plans ripped away. But _making those plans_ didn't trigger a equally vivid experience.
+
+This too is a tricky example since plans aren't themselves enjoyable; the activity they represent is enjoyable. I'm mourning the loss of the planned activity, not the planning of activities. So, one last example:
+
+3) I vividly experience not eating a second slice of cake, knowing I can't walk off the calories.
+
+![[PXL_20231124_174750697.MP~2.jpg]]
+_Floor cake_
+
+This example seems to work IMO? A second slice of cake isn't _essential_ to anyone's well-being. But at the same time: it's cake; you'd take a second slice if you could justify it. And now I can't. Withholding a second helping of cake knowing I'd put on weight feels like a vivid quality of life decrease.
+
+To state that same point more strongly: I experience the _lack of_ a second slice of cake more vividly than I felt the presence of the second slice (in the past).
+
+So, if we agree that losing a thing, like a slice of cake, is more vivid than continuing to have said thing, what else can we conclude?
+- We take good things for granted --> the loss of a good thing is a vivid experience (--> we should exercise gratefulness as much as possible for good things)
+    - We take bad things for granted --> the loss of a bad thing is a vivid experience?
+- The sensation of loss of good things is essential?
+- The degree of vivid loss is proportional to the goodness of a thing. But we never experience the goodness except through brief moments of its loss -?
+    - Perhaps this holds vice versa too.
+    - Perhaps loss of, or at least vivid recollection of the time before a good thing, is essential to experiencing the worth of a thing.
+
+Not sure how to end this one. That insight triggers a few more thoughts:
+- How glad I am to be able to shower myself. I almost can't. My shower time effectively doubled. But I can. And wow am I glad I don't need someone to help.
+
+
+### Loss as a magnifying glass to view good things
+A rocky conclusion I might reach from that last section is:
+1) The sensation of loss is far more hurtful than other sensations of tragedy.
+2) The sensation of loss is key to understanding happiness.
+
+... emboldening these points even further (and perhaps making them absurd in the process):
+1) Loss is among life's most upsetting experiences.
+2) Loss is the truest way to assess the goodness of something.
+
+It further follows then that:
+
+3) Being given the taste of a good thing, then losing it, is an extremely upsetting experience.
+
+This lands pretty close to the popular Caltech paper, [Towards a Theory of Revolution](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2089714):
+
+> Revolutions are most likely to occur when a prolonged period of objective economic and social development is followed by a short period of sharp reversal. People then subjectively fear that ground gained with great effort will be quite lost; their mood becomes revolutionary.
+
+^ the key word being "reversal" - i.e. having a thing and then suddenly not.
+
+Tbh I'm not sure where I'm going with this line of reasoning. I guess the notion that (A) loss provides an accurate lens through which to assess the goodness of a thing you used to have; (B) seeing exactly how good a good thing is can be maddening, particularly if the thing you already knew was good turned out to be really good; (C) the most peaceful way to live life would be without loss informing the worth of anything.
+
+But "peaceful" != "good", in my opinion, so a life without great loss feels like it would be missing a solid range of [[The Sinusoid]]. Perhaps a life full of loss isn't better _for teaching gratefulness_, but it's better for some other reason.
+
+### On the common experience of loss and loss as a happiness function
+TODO: Write this section.
+
+Some investigative journalism is in order here: to correlate increase and decrease in wages or buying power of a currency, independent of a depression, and correlate the relative happiness of folks affected. Can we quantify the pain of losing an improved quality of life?
+
+Something connected to Frankl's MSFM: one with a reason to live can endure anything.
+
+^ perhaps this sort of idealism is possible _only_ when you haven't experienced the loss of something you had, forcing you to know its exact worth.
+
+
+[^1]: I'm told 26 is not one's "late 20s". Source: my peers who are also in their "mid 20s" ...
+
+
+## Appendix
+Alt title: _Or: reflections on taking walking for granted._
+
+Update [[2024-05-12]]: Having my apartment drain fixed feels sort of like this! I appreciate my drain all the greater because I get to stop, pause, and think "oh right, I can use my faucet, how pleasant". That brief moment of pondering makes the difference. And yet it's over so fast...

content/4505 Burgers & BBQ.md

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+# 4505 Burgers & BBQ
+#publish 
+
+_Part of a series on [[The best burger in the bay area]]._
+
+Outdoor patio-only BBQ restaurant that I visited with Sharon on [[2022-06-08]].
+
+https://maps.app.goo.gl/BSrRdCHFwDBLw2uo9
+
+Note: this review is for the 1/2lb burger which is a double patty. I had the single patty 1/4lb in the past when Cari visited before I started my burger tier list but I recall it being rather unremarkable.
+
+Ingredients were mostly standard - no tomato, just lettuce and onion. The bun was unusually full of sesame seeds (even more so in the restaurant's Google Maps pics) so I'm rating it a 0.25/10 for unusualness.
+
+I felt it was the correct amount of oily - enough to provide flavor but not so much that the burger is drenched and falling apart, like McDonald's or [[The Melt]].
+
+![[PXL_20220609_023303118.jpg]]
+
+I rated it a 9/10 overall. Which is higher than [[Miller and Lux]] - and I think I stand by my rating of that. In both restaurants I felt full enough to not want another burger but here I felt I wouldn't feel as disgusted with myself should I hypothetically eat another.
+
+In summary: a 9/10 overall rating and 0.5/10 unusualness factor lands this burger pretty close to my platonic ideal. :)
+
+Doesn't come with fries. But that's not part of the criteria!

content/7 Leaves.md

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+# 7 Leaves
+#publish 
+
+Boba store in San Jose, really close to Roy's old apartment at 1011 Giacomo Lane in San Jose. Recording my ratings here as part of [[Best boba orders]].
+
+## Drinks
+### Strawberry Hibiscus (decaf) // Can't modify sugar // Crystal boba
+6.5/10. A little better than what I expected.
+
+I can't rate this much higher though because the sweetness isn't modifiable. Taste is great, but it's still overly sweet and 100 cal not counting the boba.
+
+Visited [[2022-10-04]].
+
+### Green Thai Tea // lowest possible sweetness // crystal boba
+Roy's favorite. I tried a brief taste and liked it.
+
+5.5/10. It's pretty good. But really sweet. I docked a lot of points for the unadjustable sweetness because boba pearls would have been better here but I couldn't have any because the combined sweetness would be too much.
+
+Visited [[2023-04-09]].
+

content/A causal test of the strength of weak ties.md

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+# A causal test of the strength of weak ties
+#publish 
+#needswork - write it
+Opened [[2024-09-06]] but this is from easily a year ago.
+
+Backlink: [[Musings on everything else]]
+
+Basically, this phenomenon from https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4476:
+![[Screenshot_20220926-170836.png]]
+
+TODO: Elaborate on it more