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That Was The Week That Was: 8th to 14th March 2023

The one in which the house repairs were finally completed and I set up analytics on this website.

Delhi, India

I'm really late in coming out with this edition of TW3. And this is just the second edition—a little too early to slip up. 😅

The week from 8th to 14th March went by in a blur. The 8th was a Holi-day (sorry) and spent chilling with friends (I've stopped feeling guilty about not working on special occasions). But after that, significant time was spent overseeing the repair work at my mom's house. The good news was that the work finally got finished! The house was still a mess (all the cupboards had to be emptied for paint and polish work and their contents were scattered around the house) but this was the end. I felt that a boulder that was sitting on my shoulders for the last 10 weeks or so was finally falling off. 🥲

I also worked a little on my website. I released the first edition of That Was The Week That Was and added analytics to the site.

I wanted to get basic analytics for my website's usage but this task always got stuck because of the research involved in selecting a (likely paid) tool. I wanted to avoid using Google Analytics at all costs. My trust in Google has fallen significantly compared to its Don't Be Evil days when I used to almost worship the company. I also didn't want to have a cookie consent banner on my site, which is required when using Google Analytics.

After a fair bit of research, I was able to bring the options down to Fathom, Plausible, Pirsch and GoatCounter. Fathom and Plausible were prohibitively expensive for me (1 USD is more than 82 INR right now) and while Pirsch looked good and was less expensive, I felt like I should first test the waters with a free tool like GoatCounter.

Because of time constraints, I set GoatCounter analytics up using a client-side script. This means that many users' browsers will simply block the script and my site's usage data will be underreported. That's okay for now—I'm mostly interested in broad trends. I will take a decision on whether to set up some kind of server-side analytics later. There are also some doubts on whether cookie-less mechanisms are more privacy-friendly than cookies and whether they are good enough to not warrant a consent banner. But I decided not to add a consent banner to this site till a clearer verdict is in.

Other Notable Stuff

  • I attended Build's demo day, which was a lot of fun. I'm seriously thinking if I should apply for their next cohort. I'll probably learn how to stop getting stuck with analysis paralysis and actually ship stuff quickly. 🤔

  • We crossed 30,000 rupees in earnings by selling scrap stored at my mum's place this year. 60,000 if we count the old Maruti van and scooter scrapped as well. Scrap doesn't sell for much, which tells you how much shit we had stored in our house and how huge the task of decluttering it has been.

  • I met yet another good friend who's taken up a job in a foreign land. When I was younger, brain drain had seemed like an alien concept from a different era. Today, most of the good people I knew have left India. Now I need new friends. 😔

  • Chelsea finally found some form after the previous week's anomalous win over Leeds. Wins over Dortmund and Leicester make me feel that our luck might be turning. 💙

Content Consumed

  • TV show: Scam 1992
    My mom couldn't have enough of this show. She started complaining when I'd say that I don't have time to watch another episode that day. Pratik Gandhi was amazing in this one and despite the scamming and scheming, we walked away with some level of sympathy towards Harshad Mehta. The show also brought forth a feeling of wonderment for a time when the mainstream media and civil servants did the right thing and there was a chance that conmen could be brought to justice. We're eagerly looking forward to the upcoming Telgi edition of the series.

  • TV show: Rocket Boys - Season 2
    Having watched the first season of Rocket Boys last year, we had high hopes from season 2. And it did not disappoint. Very well done show. I will write more about this in the next edition of TW3.

  • Book: The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
    I'm going through approximately five pages every night before bed. So far, it's been a intriguing journey that starts where most other love stories end and talks about what a typical romantic relationship looks like after the people involved have fallen in love and decided to spend the rest of their lives together. De Botton's ability to turn mundane details into beautiful prose is quite brilliant. This book is as much a lesson in writing as in the realities of love.

Other Random Thoughts

  • I feel a constant fear of stray dogs when I go out to run in the evening. I'm wondering what can be done to show the dogs that I'm not a threat (and hence they shouldn't chase me) or how the authorities can be pushed to do something about this. Stray dogs are picked up from the posher localities of Delhi at the behest of influential residents and are brought to more middle-class DDA areas like ours. Their territorial instincts often result in incidents of chasing and biting unsuspecting people (my mom got bitten last year), leading to a reduction of recreational space for residents. This is obviously not the dogs' fault (it's their nature) and I love dogs but something needs to change. Please don't hate me.

  • I've been trying a behavioural experiment on myself to de-escalate situations of potential road rage on Delhi roads. Instead of getting angry at the other driver or shouting at them, I try to laugh at how stupidly they have acted. The other person sees me smile/laugh and thinks that I'm in an okay mood and smiles back or just goes away without any incident, not knowing that I'm laughing at them. It's been working quite well so far.

That was the week that was. I will probably publish the next edition in a couple of days 🤞🏽.
Take care. Lots of viruses in the air these days.