What I done did already
This was inspired by ratfactor's /now-then page!
August 22, 2026
In Berkeley now! Getting settled in the new apartment, keeping track of all the papers I want to read in Zotero, and trying not to panic too much lol.
The weather is lovely, and lots of new people to meet; exciting!
August 14, 2026
Back in the Philly suburbs, in a brief lull before I'm off to Berkeley for the next chapter of my life. Getting back into playing soccer, the gym, and trying to read more.
Collating lots of papers (largely quantum compilers, QEC focused) so that I have a healthy amount of work for when I reach SF, and I can hit the ground running.
Although hitting the ground running isn't really necessary... I'm learning to be more comfortable with easing into things. There's no expectation of immediate output at this stage (or ever?) - I've got time!
August 5, 2026
We're back from Mauritius! Flight got delayed from 10:40 PM to 1 AM, which was a real hoot, but we made it back to the grandparents' apartment safe and sound. I'm going to take midday to relax (probably), and maybe read a bit, before we go to a friend's place for dinner and meeting family.
The trip itself was pretty fun! Anuj and I got into a routine of breakfast, padel or tennis, swimming (either in the ocean or the pool), followed by a shower, lunch, rotting in the room (maybe studying), then a relaxing dinner, followed optionally by more work on my end. It was a pretty good experience overall, although the selection of activities felt a bit lackluster in the end. Goa probably would have been a smidge nicer, but we've been there too many times and a new experience is good.
I also managed to make some progress over the Mauritius trip on the QEC textbook I'm reading! I got through most of the confusing part with decoders, and all I have left for that chapter is looking at the small-to-medium sized summaries of all of the major decoder archetypes. Hoping to get that done soon, perhaps before we leave for the US but we'll see.
Feeling pretty good overall!
July 31, 2026
We're now in Mauritius from Mumbai, which was a thrilling (routine) journey across the Indian Ocean. Yesterday, I said hi to some old friends from middle school which was pretty awesome. Thanks Adit, Nikunj, and Harsh! We had great food at Tiger Yaki in Bandra. I'm not sure what the particular Mauritius itinerary is, but it should be very fun regardless, and the beach is beautiful. I might recoup a bit and then try my hand at some more QEC textbook reading, although I should want to do it for the fun and not the obligation. Till next time!
July 26, 2026
I've arrived in India to visit my grandparents and some friends! Everything is the same, and I'm planning to talk about the feeling soon (but later). I'm still not entirely sure how this "now" page works, or rather, with what frequency I should be updating it, but oh well. Seems like most people do it on a monthly basis - I've taken to doing it weekly, or sometimes with even shorter breaks in between. A part of that is because Holy Crap I am traveling so much, but the other part is that I just think this is neat! I've set a lot of stuff up on my website recently, and there's a thrill in using my website to its fullest potential.
I also recently saw Conclave and Transformers One on the plane; both great movies!
Took a break from the QEC grind on account of travel, but have tried to keep up with at least skimming papers and engaging my critical thinking skills. Onwards!
July 24, 2026
This is the second half of my update to the now page script; it should now (lol) automatically cd into my personal site's directory, commit the changes for now.md and now-then.md, and then push them after I've made changes. Seems like it's doing a good job thus far!
In more relevant news, I'm traveling to India soon to visit my grandparents, and that should be a pretty enjoyable experience. It's been a couple of years since I've seen them. Plus, an opportunity for more photos, perhaps!
July 23, 2026
I'm using this to test a script that will automate moving things from /now to /now-then!
July 21, 2026
I'm back from a trip to Porto, which was lovely! Even after a day of wine tasting in the Douro Valley, I still hate wine. Port wines are passable insofar as they taste similar enough to me, although the sweeter notes don't help their case. Lots of cool architecture and pictures to take (see /photos, as well as good bonding with my girlfriend and her family. I've got a week between more travel (visiting my grandparents in India!), and the break is a necessary nicety.
I also followed along to a fun blogpost and made my own simple version of microegg, a pedagogical equality saturation engine! You can find that here, if you so choose.
The lack of a now page history bothers me a little bit, I'm not sure if I should have a history section or not. Maybe I'll make one right now!
July 10th, 2026
I just learned about slashpages, and want to try my hand at some!
I've been learning more about quantum error correction, going to the gym, and cooking more. It's been quite fun learning recipes from my mother and grandmother.
Recently, I also got back into some games I hadn't played in at least 7 years, so that was rather fun. Moving to the Bay soon will be a stressful yet exciting affair.