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	<title>Saket Vora</title>
	<link>http://www.saketvora.com</link>
	<description>there&#039;s always a siren, steering you to shipwreck...</description>
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		<title>Paragliding</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the hobbies Chrissy picked up this past summer was paragliding. Not to be confused with hang-gliding or parasailing &#8212; paragliding is where you wear a modified parachute called a glider, throw it up into the wind and take a running leap off a mountain. The wind fills the glider and you soar through [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/10/09/paragliding/</link>
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		<title>Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2011</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a huge, multiday, music festival that takes place in Golden Gate Park in the beginning of October. The music draws from bluegrass, folk, alternative and often draws in some big name acts. And the crazy part? It&#8217;s completely free, with no restrictions. Want to bring a small tent, coolers, and a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/10/02/hardly-strictly-bluegrass-2011/</link>
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		<title>Eat Real Fest in Oakland</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As many people know, the Bay Area is a haven for folks to appreciate the consumption and creation of food. The Eat Real Fest in Oakland&#8217;s Jack London Square is a celebration of this, drawing lots of great food trucks (!) but also a huge variety of locally produced food businesses and entrepreneurs. Brock and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/09/25/eat-real-fest-in-oakland/</link>
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		<title>Two Door Cinema Club @ the Warfield</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The busy fall concert schedule doesn&#8217;t let up! Last night I saw the Irish rockers Two Door Cinema Club perform at the Warfield in San Francisco, marking the first show I&#8217;ve seen at the Warfield. Chrissy had an extra ticket and I was glad to go &#8212; I&#8217;ve enjoyed the energy of Two Door Cinema [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/09/24/two-door-cinema-club-the-warfield/</link>
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		<title>Bon Iver @ the Greek Theater</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The self-titled sophomore album by Bon Iver will very likely be my favorite album of 2011. It is nuanced, layered, emotional, and I think I&#8217;ve listened to it more than anything new album this year. Needless to say, I couldn&#8217;t wait to see the band frontman Justin Vernon assembled for this latest incarnation of Bon [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/09/23/bon-iver-the-greek-theater/</link>
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		<title>Fleet Foxes @ the Greek Theater</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Fleet Foxes had a great debut back in 2008, and yet I was slow to pick up on their 2011 followup Helplessness Blues. They played at the Greek Theater in Berkeley last night and I&#8217;m really glad I went! Brock and Heather snagged a spot early in line with burritos, and we got in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/09/11/fleet-foxes-the-greek-theater/</link>
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		<title>East Asia Trip &#8211; Part 3: Hong Kong</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I had heard a great deal about Hong Kong from my colleagues who had been through there on previous trips, and this was my chance to finally see it in person. The first thing that strike you is the jaw dropping natural beauty of the city. Hong Kong is built atop of extraordinarily rugged mountain [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/09/04/east-asia-trip-part-3-hong-kong/</link>
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		<title>East Asia Trip &#8211; Part 2: China</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So after Japan, I was in China for just under five days on business. Went to eat at a great Italian restaurant, and surprisingly decent Indian food too. Caught up with a colleague I hadn&#8217;t seen in half a year at the penthouse bar in the hotel one evening. Anyway, moving on. It was Labor [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/09/01/east-asia-trip-part-2-china/</link>
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		<title>East Asia Trip &#8211; Part 1: Japan</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I went to the Orient (is that term not cool anymore?) for a two week stint, on business. But did get a bit of pleasure during the gaps between work weeks, which was quite nice for a change. I traveled with Joseph and Sean &#8212; when combined make a fun traveling party. First we went [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/08/29/east-asia-trip-part-1-japan/</link>
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		<title>Outside Lands Music Festival 2011</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Next up on the music festival circuit? Outside Lands in San Francisco&#8217;s Golden Gate Park, coming just the week after Lollapalooza! Here too I just got a single day ticket, but it was too good to pass up. I knew several folks who were going to be there, but it was just a matter of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/08/15/outside-lands-music-festival-2011/</link>
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		<title>Lollapalooza &amp; Chicago</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Lollapalooza! A three day music festival with storied roots, and conveniently taking place in the beautiful summertime in Chicago. I decided to go this year, not just to enjoy the music but also to see my sister and to see my cousin* Puja, who I hadn&#8217;t really seen since the time our family lived in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/08/09/lollapalooza-chicago/</link>
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		<title>Battle: Sliders</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The food challenge today was Battle: Sliders. Rather than doing a traditional slider (which, as I learned, has a narrow definition), Chrissy and I teamed up to do a fun play on the idea of a slider. I made a dense chocolate cake (inspired by a lava caker recipe), baking it early the morning of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/29/battle-sliders/</link>
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		<title>NCSU Alumni Mixer</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today I (finally) made it to an NC State Alumni mixer. Brent organized a meetup at 21st Amendment, and though I was late (gah, traffic!) I&#8217;m really glad I came. There were some new faces and familiar ones &#8211; Brent, Mary and Matt, both Tims, and Brent&#8217;s good friend and recent Bay Area transplant Baran [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/28/ncsu-alumni-mixer/</link>
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		<title>Weekend in Tahoe</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When a colleague of yours asks whether you&#8217;d like to join a group of friends to come up to Lake Tahoe for a weekend at his family&#8217;s condo a mere fifty yards from the water &#8212; and enjoy wakeboarding or tubing via the family speedboat &#8212; you would be hardpressed to say no. That&#8217;s what [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/25/weekend-in-tahoe-2/</link>
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		<title>Other Lives and the Rosebuds @ the Independent</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Two weeks ago (wow, time is going by fast), I headed to the Independent on a Wednesday night to see a double header &#8212; Other Lives and The Rosebuds. Sean and I grabbed dinner beforehand, and the others trickled in too &#8212; John , Jian-Wei, Veronica, Michael, and Karla. I actually had heard of Other [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/18/other-lives-and-the-rosebuds-the-independent/</link>
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		<title>Bonfire at Bonny Doon Beach</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This Saturday we took our fight for a proper summer to the beaches &#8212; was time for a beach bonfire! There was some heated discussion on where to do it &#8212; after all, up in NorCal there really isn&#8217;t anywhere with a proper &#8220;beach&#8221;. Those in the city are cold and windy and crowded, ones [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/16/bonfire-at-bonny-doon-beach/</link>
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		<title>Battle: Something on a Stick</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Our bi-weekly food challenges continued, with the next one being Battle: Something on a Stick. Now that begs a grill to be fired up, but I was struck with a vision that avoided heat all together: Homemade sushi (tuna &#38; salmon), hanging from chopstick fishing poles, suspended over a pond of soy sauce, with wasabi [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/15/battle-something-on-a-stick/</link>
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		<title>July 4th Cookout at Crissy Field</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Monday, July 4th itself was an amazing cap to the weekend. The day started by meeting up with Melih and going for a long run in Golden Gate Park. I didn&#8217;t realize it until after, but it felt so good just to be able to talk about things that I don&#8217;t talk to anyone else [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/14/july-4th-cookout-at-crissy-field/</link>
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		<title>Neko Case, the Dodos @ Stern Grove</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Sunday of July 4th weekend, after Coyote Valley, was spent at the wonderful Stern Grove in the Inner Sunset. Stern Grove is a music venue nestled in a grove of trees, and each summer is host to free Sunday concerts by the Stern Grove Music Festival. They even get the SF Symphony, the Ballet, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/13/neko-case-the-dodos-stern-grove/</link>
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		<title>Sporting Clays at Coyote Valley</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On Saturday morning of the July 4th long weekend holiday, I was greeted by the following text message: &#8220;On my way, do you have a backpack we can use to carry ammo?&#8221; An auspicious start to America&#8217;s Weekend, no? On tap for the day: sporting clays at Coyote Valley down in Morgan Hill, south of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/12/sporting-clays-at-coyote-valley/</link>
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		<title>SF Symphony in Golden Gate Park</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After freshening up from the 10k race, I picked up some groceries for a picnic and raced back up to the City. Next up: a free concert in Golden Gate Park by the SF Symphony! I figured I&#8217;d make a picnic out of it, so some friends were going to come by for the show. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/10/sf-symphony-in-golden-gate-park/</link>
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		<title>My First Race &#8211; the 10k Jungle Run in Los Gatos</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On Sunday July 10th, I participated in my first road race since I started running a few months ago. It was a 10k (6.2 miles) run down in Los Gatos called the &#8220;Jungle Run&#8220;. I had been doing this distance before during my runs in the park, so I knew I could do it. Stephanie [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/10/my-first-race-the-10k-jungle-run-in-los-gatos/</link>
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		<title>Battle: Pie!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Friday was Battle: Pie at work. This battle&#8217;s contestants: me, Paul, Chrissy, and first time entrant Stephanie. Being the kickoff to the long July 4th holiday &#8212; America&#8217;s Weekend &#8212; I went all out with the patriotic flair. My entry was a strawberry rhubarb fruit pie, with the filling cooked down a bit on [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/08/battle-pie/</link>
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		<title>Alice&#8217;s Summerthing in Golden Gate Park</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I was planning on staying in the Sunday after the Pride Celebration, but then I heard about the Alice Summerthing free concert in Golden Gate Park happening that afternoon. How could I pass that up? And wouldn&#8217;t you know, I even recognized the artists too &#8212; Michelle Branch, Matt Nathanson, and OneRepublic. Chrissy was thinking [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/07/alices-summerthing-in-golden-gate-park/</link>
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		<title>Pride Celebration 2011</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Two Saturdays ago (need to post these sooner), I went for my weekend long run in Golden Gate Park and set new personal distance record, so that felt good. After freshening up at home, I immediately headed over to Chrissy and Dave&#8217;s place to rendezvous &#8212; they, Dave&#8217;s friend Jacqueline, and I headed up to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/07/07/pride-celebration-2011/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Bon Iver</title>
		<description><![CDATA[First, let me get the requisite origin story of the way: following a bad breakup and failed promises of a band, Justin Vernon retreated back to his father&#8217;s cabin in the woods of Wisconsin, bringing with him a guitar and basic recording equipment. He emerged several months later with what became the album For Emma, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/29/new-music-bon-iver/</link>
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		<title>Seryn @ the Hotel Utah</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After spending the afternoon in Dolores Park with Karla and the crew, I stopped by home to freshen up then headed out towards SOMA. Next up for the evening: dinner &#38; a concert by Seryn. Having gone up to Oregon and Washington after their show the previous weekend in Berkeley, they were going to play [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/27/seryn-the-hotel-utah/</link>
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		<title>Pizza</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, just because. 1 minute 5 minutes 9 minutes]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/27/pizza/</link>
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		<title>New distance milestone reached</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Mid-day run through Golden Gate Park on Saturday: Miles 6 and 7 are mostly on trails, and with a slight incline. Gotta work on the hills! That&#8217;s the hardest part of the run. Pretty convenient route &#8212; I just take the 24 bus to Oak, walk two blocks to the Panhandle and start there. Run [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/26/new-distance-milestone-reached/</link>
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		<title>Karla&#8217;s Birthday in Dolores Park</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We celebrated Karla&#8217;s birthday last Sunday afternoon, and San Francisco was kind enough to gift us a warm, sunny, undeniably summer day. We started out at Elixir in the Mission, where they have a do-it-yourself Bloody Mary. There was apparently someone from an in-flight magazine shooting a story on this, and the bartender took one [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/25/karlas-birthday-in-dolores-park/</link>
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		<title>The 1st Second (Third) Fridays</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My friends Sean and Joey observed a certain lacking in the lives of our social circle &#8212; people are doing creative things all the time, but sometimes those efforts don&#8217;t reach their full potential. So they decided to start Second Fridays, a gallery style art exhibition for friends to showcase things they have been working [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/24/the-1st-second-third-fridays/</link>
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		<title>Seryn @ the Starry Plough in Berkeley</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After dropping Sean and Chrissy off from Jay&#8217;s BBQ down in Santa Cruz, I made a pit stop at home and found Troy vegging out on the coach. &#8220;Hey T-Bone, you up for doing something tonight?&#8221; Twenty minutes later, we were heading across the Bay Bridge to the Starry Plough pub in Berkeley. The occasion: [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/22/seryn-the-starry-plough-in-berkeley/</link>
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		<title>Jay&#8217;s BBQ in Santa Cruz</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Two weekends ago, my colleague Jay threw a Saturday cookout at his home down in Santa Cruz. Some of our colleagues from China &#8212; a few engineers from the contract manufacturer that Jay has worked with the last several years &#8212; were in town and they came along too. Jay designed and built his new [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/21/jays-bbq-in-santa-cruz/</link>
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		<title>Iron Chef Night: Battle Quiché!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Back in March, I hosted an iron chef brainstorming dinner and we came up with a pretty out-of-the-box idea for an Iron Chef style culinary challenge: Battle Quiché! Note the accent on the e. This isn&#8217;t a challenge where everyone makes quiches, but rather, the goal was to make a dish that embodies a cliché, a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/20/iron-chef-night-battle-quiche/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Burst Apart by The Antlers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Hat tip to John for this one. The Antlers, a three piece indie rock band out of Brooklyn, have been around for a few years but recently released their second album, Burst Apart. Their first album, Hospice, gained attention for its emotionally charged songs and unusual setup &#8212; it told a story using the analogy [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/19/new-music-burst-apart-by-the-antlers/</link>
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		<title>New Music: The Naked and Famous</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s a bit of electro-pop fun before diving back into more heady tunes: The Naked and Famous, out of New Zealand. Their recent album is called Passive Me, Aggressive You. Go figure that this band opened for the Freelance Whales show that I did with friends, but we missed the entire opener because we were [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/17/new-music-the-naked-and-famous/</link>
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		<title>Memorial Day BBQ at Crissy Field</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Spent most of the Monday of Memorial Day recovering from the rafting and Yosemite trips. In the afternoon, I started work on making spanakopita for the first time, and a big bowl of pasta salad. Melih was throwing a surprise BBQ for Micky at Crissy Field, a wide open park in the Presidio in front [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/16/memorial-day-bbq-at-crissy-field/</link>
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		<title>Yosemite</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After the rafting trip, Paul and I headed southeast to Yosemite. Our friend Sam had a campsite there for the whole weekend, and we couldn&#8217;t pass up a chance to join them. We quickly ironed dinner plans while grocery shopping &#8212; fajitas, grilled corn, s&#8217;more ingredients (of course). We made fairly good time en route, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/15/yosemite-3/</link>
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		<title>Whitewater Rafting!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend began early, as Chrissy&#8217;s car hit the road with Jared and I in tow. Our destination was Auburn, about forty-five minutes north of Sacramento and the rally point for our whitewater rafting trip. Big hat tip to Paul for organizing this. Our merry band was to experience the North [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/14/whitewater-rafting/</link>
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		<title>Delorean Remix by Taragana Pyjarama</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m getting this quick post off as I head to work in the morning, moving through a fog bank that is blanketing South San Francisco. What I&#8217;m listening to is gladly nothing like my surroundings: it&#8217;s a remix of Delorean&#8217;s Grow by Taragana Pyjarama (what a cool name!). It&#8217;s smooth, warm, and feels like summer [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/06/13/delorean-remix-by-taragana-pyjarama/</link>
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		<title>Memorial Day Weekend</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Heading up north for some white water rafting in the North Fork of the American River, then camping in Yosemite. Should be back Monday. Have a great holiday weekend everyone!]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/05/28/memorial-day-weekend/</link>
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		<title>Lord Huron Remixes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here are two remixes of Lord Huron I&#8217;ve been listening to quite a bit recently. The first of Into the Sun, done by Teen Daze. It&#8217;s an electronic treatment of the original&#8217;s tropical, laid back, sunny mood, and I especially like the way the remix not only gives the song a great sense of focus, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/05/23/lord-huron-remixes/</link>
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		<title>Bay to Breakers 2011!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The 100th anniversary of the infamous Bay to Breakers footrace took place last Sunday in San Francisco, and this year I took part in it. For the uninitiated, Bay to Breakers is an annual race held in San Francisco in which runners go across the City from east to west, from the &#8216;bay&#8217; to the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/05/21/bay-to-breakers-2011/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Seryn</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is another hat tip to Paste Magazine, their recent &#8220;Best of What&#8217;s Next&#8221; really meshed with me. The artist is a five-piece called Seryn, from Texas. They are multi-instrumentalists and you&#8217;ll hear guitars, banjos, ukelele, viola, and accordions throughout their album, This is Where We Are. The songs lean towards the long side, with [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/05/14/new-music-seryn/</link>
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		<title>Peanut Butter Chocolate Inception Cookie</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Yo dawg, I herd you liked peanut butter &#38; chocolate&#8230; I present for your consideration, a peanut butter cookie coated with chocolate with a Reese&#8217;s peanut butter cup inside :)]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/05/11/peanut-butter-chocolate-inception-cookie/</link>
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		<title>Sachi&#8217;s Graduation!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last weekend I headed back east to celebrate my sister Sachi&#8217;s graduation from nursing school at the University of Charleston, in West Virginia. Sapana and I were on the same flight from Chicago, and we ended up killing nearly five hours at Chicago O&#8217;Hare. Our intended flight was oversold by two, and when the offered [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/05/08/sachis-graduation/</link>
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		<title>Here We Go Magic @ the Rickshaw Stop</title>
		<description><![CDATA[An opportunity came up for this past Monday night that was too good to pass up. Patrick, our super intern extraordinaire from NC State, tells us that his (2nd) cousin Peter is the drummer for the band Here We Go Magic, and they were coming to San Francisco and he got backstage passes. Heck yeah! [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/05/04/here-we-go-magic-the-rickshaw-stop/</link>
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		<title>Bring Your Own Big Wheel 2011!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[San Francisco. A city with hills, steep roads, crooked streets. One day someone thought, &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t it be fun to ride a big wheel (tricycle) down one of these?&#8221; Yes, yes it would. And being San Francisco, you have to have wacky costumes. And lots of friends. And hold it on Easter Sunday. And thus: Bring [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/28/bring-your-own-big-wheel-2011/</link>
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		<title>Shooting Trap, and a Housewarming</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After my now-routine long run through Golden Gate Park on Saturday morning, I headed down to the South Bay. My intention was to do some shopping to prep for the wedding I&#8217;m attending next week, but that ended up not happening. Chrissy was going to a shooting range in the foothills behind Cupertino to shoot [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/26/shooting-trap-and-a-housewarming/</link>
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		<title>Lost in the Trees @ Hemlock Tavern</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Friday I was treated to an amazing experience, courtesy of Lost in the Trees, the indie/folk/baroque band from Chapel Hill, NC that released their first full album last year and received lots of blog love from NPR Music. They were playing a show at the Hemlock Tavern, a small venue behind a bar on [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/25/lost-in-the-trees-hemlock-tavern/</link>
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		<title>Big Sur Half Marathon</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is happening. I&#8217;ve been running more and more lately as a way of getting into better shape, and so far I&#8217;ve been able to do a ~5 mile run at about a 9:15min/mi pace. When I spoke to my friend Win about running &#8212; he really got into it after graduating from undergrad &#8212; [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/24/big-sur-half-marathon/</link>
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		<title>Weekend Barbeques</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last weekend gave us Bay Area residents some nice weather up in the City, and we made the most of it. On Saturday, Nishu invited me to come along to a rooftop barbecue of some friends of hers, Christine and Lloyd. Christine was an intern with Nishu at Apple and is also fulltime there now, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/21/weekend-barbeques/</link>
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		<title>Night at the San Francisco Symphony</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This past Saturday night, I saw my first show of the San Francisco Symphony at the beautiful Davies Auditorium, on Van Ness right in front of City Hall. I went with Patrick, who is certainly making the most of his time out here in the Bay Area before returning to Raleigh to finish school, and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/21/night-at-the-san-francisco-symphony/</link>
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		<title>Concert Doubleheader &#8211; Freelance Whales &amp; Delorean</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Thursday I did a concert doubleheader &#8212; Freelance Whales @ the Great American Music Hall then Delorean @ Slim&#8217;s. A few months back I saw the Freelance Whales show pop up and bought tickets for it &#8212; I&#8217;d miss them twice before in San Francisco. Very soon after, I see a Delorean show appear&#8230;.on [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/20/concert-doubleheader-freelance-whales-delorean/</link>
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		<title>Lord Huron @ Bottom of the Hill</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Wednesday I saw Lord Huron again at Bottom of the Hill. This was the band that John and I discovered when they opened for Tennis a couple of months back, and to support them I wanted to go back and see them even if it was unlikely they&#8217;d have new material ready. Bottom of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/20/lord-huron-bottom-of-the-hill/</link>
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		<title>Meeting the New NC State Chancellor</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Monday I got to meet Dr. Randy Woodson, the recently (as of a year ago) selected chancellor of my alma mater, NC State. My friend Brent tipped Amit and I off to a Bay Area visit by the chancellor a few months back, and then both Brent and Amit did a terrific job at [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/19/meeting-the-new-nc-state-chancellor/</link>
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		<title>Crepes at Ti Couz</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The morning after the Stanford spring game, I joined another one of Patrick&#8217;s culinary outings for brunch, this time to Ti Couz, a lovely French cafe at 16th and Mission, across from the Monk&#8217;s Kettle. Patrick had heard this place was rumored to close down, and wanted to enjoy its food at least one last [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/19/crepes-at-ti-couz/</link>
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		<title>Stanford Spring Game at Kezar Stadium</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Saturday afternoon, I headed up to Kezar Stadium on the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park for the annual Cardinal and White spring scrimmage game of the Stanford football team. No idea why they play in San Francisco instead of Palo Alto, but hey &#8212; a free game in the park on a nice [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/18/stanford-spring-game-at-kezar-stadium/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Typhoon</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Typhoon is a band I learned about from scanning the headlines over at Paste Magazine&#8217;s website. Their description of this band&#8217;s latest EP warranted further exploration: Music critics throw around adjectives like “orchestral” and “expansive” all the time these days. But here’s a band that actually deserves such labels. Portland’s Typhoon is an indie rock [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/18/new-music-typhoon/</link>
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		<title>Hiking the Sunol Wilderness</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Two weekends ago I organized a group hike to the Sunol Regional Wilderness, located in the East bay nestled between San Jose and Livermore. In contrast to the previous week&#8217;s hike to Cataract Falls, this was more wide open country hiking. I hadn&#8217;t really explored this part of the Bay before. The turnout was nice [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/17/hiking-the-sunol-wilderness/</link>
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		<title>Experimental Music @ CCRMA Showcase</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After going for a 5k run in Golden Gate Park and watching Butler beat VCU with Troy down at the Valley Tavern on 24th, I headed into SOMA with Joey and Sean for a night of experimental music. It was Modulations 2011, the annual showcase of projects by students of the Center for Computational Research [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/05/experimental-music-ccrma-showcase/</link>
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		<title>Ultimate Frisbee</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Our weekly Thursday evening Ultimate frisbee games at work have started up again (the weather is finally gorgeous out here), and last week I brought out my camera with the new lens to try my hand at some sport photography. Check out the full album here. Thanks to Allison and Jason who took some shots [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/03/ultimate-frisbee/</link>
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		<title>Röyksopp @ the Regency Ballroom</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Röyksopp! It&#8217;s even fun to say. Left work early on Monday for this concert &#8212; met up with Dan and home and we took the Muni up to a Thai restaurant less than two blocks from the theater. John Shen beat us to dinner and brought a car up from the South Bay, including Hendrick [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/02/royksopp-the-regency-ballroom/</link>
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		<title>Radiolab Live!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After dropping Tim and John off after the Cataract Falls hike, Patrick and I raced back home and got ready &#8212; it was time for Radiolab! A few weeks back I got back from a meeting and spotted an email from them, announcing a live show in San Francisco and early access to tickets for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/04/01/radiolab-live/</link>
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		<title>Cataract Falls Hike</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After a lazy Saturday (Troy and I parked ourselves at the Valley Tavern for some March Madness action), I headed up with a group of friends to Cataract Falls, near Mt. Tamalpais by Muir Woods north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin. Suggested by John, the falls would be roaring with the weeks of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/31/cataract-falls-hike/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Abigail Washburn&#8217;s City of Refuge</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The story of Abigail Washburn is a fascinating gem. I first learned about her last week, when Joseph had me listen to her latest album, City of Refuge. She grew up moving around quite a bit &#8212; born in Evanston, IL, childhood in D.C., high school in Minnesota, and college in Colorado. While in undergrad, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/26/new-music-abigail-washburns-city-of-refuge/</link>
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		<title>Sunday Night Dinner &#8211; Iron Chef Brainstorm</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Sunday I finally resurrected the Sunday night dinner tradition and planned on making the most of the dismal weather we were having to make some of Bittman&#8217;s soup recipes. Sunday turned out to be a pretty nice day. I spent the morning watching more basketball, catching up on blog posts (have you noticed), and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/25/sunday-night-dinner-iron-chef-brainstorm/</link>
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		<title>Park Networking Mixer &amp; Dinner Party at Tim&#8217;s</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Saturday the wind and the rain descended upon the City for the whole day. It&#8217;s funny how a few years out here really spoils you. But anyway, I started the day off with college basketball (what else during March Madness?) and in the early afternoon Ben (Park c/o 2002) came over. He and I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/24/park-networking-mixer-dinner-party-at-tims/</link>
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		<title>Office Shuffle, Go-Karting, Party in the Mission</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Friday we had an office shuffle at work. For some folks, it was the first time in over five years that they were moving offices. As with any move, there are good and bad aspects. One nice thing is that the whole team will now be on the same side of the building, the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/23/office-shuffle-go-karting-party-in-the-mission/</link>
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		<title>Culann&#8217;s Hounds Show for St. Patrick&#8217;s Day</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Thursday &#8212; St. Patrick&#8217;s Day! &#8212; I wore my green sweater and green belt and enjoyed some Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake courtesy of Chrissy (hat tip to Sapana for the recipe share). Just as I was leaving work, I got a text from Melih: a colleague of his is fronts an Irish rock band and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/22/culanns-hounds-show-for-st-patricks-day/</link>
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		<title>Warpaint @ the Independent</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A few months ago I wrote about Warpaint, the all-girl downtempo rock band that Jono (Dan&#8217;s brother) told me about during Thanksgiving. Last Wednesday I saw them live at the Independent with John, his friends David and Alex, and Alex&#8217;s roommate Timon. It turned out to be the leadoff show of their new tour. Before [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/21/warpaint-the-independent/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Pretty Lights</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s something to get your foot tapping &#8212; Pretty Lights is electronic music with hip-hop beats, with a dashes of of glitchy dubstep, funk, and soul for good measure. Heard about them from Jess, and all their albums are available for free download off their website (one of the most vivid artist websites you&#8217;ll ever [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/17/new-music-pretty-lights/</link>
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		<title>UX Fail with Office 2011 for Mac OS X</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I typically don&#8217;t use this channel to complain about every day things, but this one irritates me so much that I can&#8217;t ignore it. While as a student and in my current job, I spend a lot of time using office productivity software. Excel for mathematical sketching and modeling, PowerPoint for slide decks, Word for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/16/ux-fail-with-office-2011-for-mac-os-x/</link>
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		<title>New Explosions in the Sky</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week I learned of the first new song in nearly four years by Austin-based instrumental rock band Explosions in the Sky. How exciting! I&#8217;ve recommended the band to friends seeking music to listen to while studying or working that wouldn&#8217;t be distracting with words. Grounded in the rock music, their pieces are often long, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/16/new-explosions-in-the-sky/</link>
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		<title>Paintballing!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Friday about a dozen colleagues and I went paintballing after work. It was my first time, and it was a lot of fun! The &#8220;map&#8221; wasn&#8217;t a forest or open field &#8212; the facility had different maps setup with varying scenarios. The first was long and narrow, setup like the one-block town of the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/15/paintballing/</link>
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		<title>EEP in the Valley</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Two weekends ago the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program made their annual spring break trip to Silicon Valley. As readers might recall, I participated in the program for my senior design project, and the Silicon Valley trip was a major factor in me deciding to come out to the Bay Area. It was also on that trip [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/14/eep-in-the-valley/</link>
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		<title>First Tahoe Trip of the Season</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This past weekend I made my first trip of the season up to Tahoe, part of a ski trip that Chrissy organized. She&#8217;s pretty good at these things, and this time didn&#8217;t disappoint &#8211; we had a nice big lodge in Tahoe City, on the northern part of Lake Tahoe near the Alpine, Squaw Valley, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/02/first-tahoe-trip-of-the-season/</link>
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		<title>Geographer @ the Independent</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Noise Pop Festival has wrapped up in San Francisco, and one artist I went to see is Geographer, who played a sold out show last Wednesday at the Independent. As readers might remember, I learned of this local SF act from Sam and saw them previously at Bottom of the Hill back in October. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/03/01/geographer-the-independent/</link>
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		<title>Great Conversation, Golden Gate Park, BBQ</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Two weekends ago, I headed out to dinner on Saturday with Melih after spending the whole day indoors doing my taxes while it rained outside. It was, as always, wonderful. It was a long, meandering conversation that ranged from camera talk, the challenge of interviewing for talented people, how culture develops in companies, to all [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/02/27/great-conversation-golden-gate-park-bbq/</link>
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		<title>Dinner with Hersh, impromptu Shaimus show</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week my friend Hersh was in town and we met up in Palo Alto for dinner. Hersh was part of my senior design team that I did with the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program, the same way Jordan was. After doing electrical engineering at NC State, he did biomedical engineering at Duke but started getting involved [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/02/22/dinner-with-hersh-impromptu-shaimus-show/</link>
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		<title>Baker Beach</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Two weekends ago I headed out to Baker Beach in the northwest part of San Francisco, near the Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge. I had heard of it largely on reputation of its amazing views. The weather that weekend had been nice, but when I arrived it was a little chilly and the sun [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/02/20/baker-beach/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Lord Huron</title>
		<description><![CDATA[John had an extra ticket on Thursday to see a husband and wife duo called Tennis, which he had heard just two singles from a few months back that sounded interesting. I hadn&#8217;t heard anything of them before. They were doing a show at Bottom of the Hill and for $10 tickets, so why not? [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/02/05/new-music-lord-huron/</link>
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		<title>Popovers and roasted red peppers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Popovers! Just the name of them made me interested, and I tried them out for the first time on Sunday. Just a simple thin batter of milk, eggs, and flour, combined with hot fat (butter, in this case, instead of the more traditional beef fat) in a pan, and the result is quite transformative! Preheat [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/01/31/popovers-and-roasted-red-peppers/</link>
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		<title>Reinvestment</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple of weeks ago I received something unexpected in the mail &#8211; a check for $853 from Veer Labs, the entity my friend Naman had setup a few years ago to organize our efforts working on WaterPLUS, the UV-LED water purification idea. The team had done well in several social entrepreneurship-related business plan competitions [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/01/30/reinvestment/</link>
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		<title>Busy few weeks, and a visit by Jordan!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s almost TGIF, whew! It&#8217;s been quite a busy past couple of weeks. I was double loaded at work last week but that&#8217;s changed now. It&#8217;s been good though, meeting more people in cross functional teams and learning a lot from Leland. I&#8217;m really lucky to have mentors who have seen so much in this [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/01/28/busy-few-weeks-and-a-visit-by-jordan/</link>
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		<title>More to come later</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Been working ~15 hour days this week, except for one evening doing trivia night at a bar with friends.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/01/19/more-to-come-later/</link>
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		<title>Blogroll addition: Loaded Tour by Dustin</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My good friend Dustin, who has popped up here many times over the past year, is currently traveling across New Zealand on a touring bicycle. He started in the beginning of December, and has made remarkable progress so far. He&#8217;ll be returning stateside in about a month, to start full-time with our iPod hardware team [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/01/11/blogroll-addition-loaded-tour-by-dustin/</link>
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		<title>Winter Break 2010</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I headed back to North Carolina for the week from Christmas through New Year&#8217;s Day. It&#8217;s been an annual trip for me, especially because the shared birthday of my sisters and I falls on December 28th, and now that the three of us are outside the nest, it&#8217;s the one time of year that we&#8217;re [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/01/08/winter-break-2010/</link>
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		<title>Super Simple Hummus</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In my effort to eat healthier and lose weight (read: work off the consequences of eating all the glorious food from winter break), I was looking for a healthy meal tonight and spotted a can of garbanzo beans in the pantry. I always keep a couple of cans around, usually for chana masala. Why not [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2011/01/03/super-simple-hummus/</link>
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		<title>Year in Review 2010</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Another year comes to a close. As evident in last year&#8217;s recap post, the key word of 2009 was transition. I finished my studies at Stanford and had to move to the professional world. I went from part-time contracting to a full time position at Apple. Mentally, I shifted from not knowing what the next [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/12/31/year-in-review-2010/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Warpaint</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This one comes with a hat tip to Jono, Dan&#8217;s brother who I met when his family was visiting the City for Thanksgiving. He and I clicked when it came to music &#8212; he&#8217;s the only person I&#8217;ve met (besides John) who has heard of Delorean, but also likes them too! He even knew Gold [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/12/26/new-music-warpaint/</link>
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		<title>Ben Visits the Bay Area</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Friday my good friend Ben arrived in San Francisco for the first time. His family would be getting together the following week to go on a hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and he swung by the Bay Area to visit some friends beforehand. Ben was one of the first people [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/12/24/ben-visits-the-bay-area/</link>
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		<title>New Music: Silian Rail</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In anticipation for Ben&#8217;s visit to SF, I was perusing upcoming concerts on Bandega when I stumbled across this instrumental guitar-drum duo out of Oakland by the name of Silian Rail. I took a listen to a few of their songs and liked what I heard &#8212; reminded me of a more nuanced, less bombastic [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/12/17/new-music-silian-rail/</link>
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		<title>Whoa, Buke and Gass were on Radiolab!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[How cool is this &#8212; Radiolab (one of my favorite podcasts) actually did a short segment about Buke and Gass back in April! I must have missed this podcast, but Jad interviews Arone and Aron about how they create their sound &#8212; and their custom, homemade instruments. Jad actually came across them while researching music [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/12/15/whoa-buke-and-gass-were-on-radiolab/</link>
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		<title>Pizza Night Part Deux</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Sunday was the second installment of pizza night at the SPH. From a culinary perspective, this was a challenge in throughput. The last time, we hand stretched each pie from a ball of dough, but with a single pizza peel it proved slow. This time, I put in four clay tiles into the oven, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/12/15/pizza-night-part-deux/</link>
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	<item>
		<title>New Music: Buke and Gass</title>
		<description><![CDATA[NPR Music is starting their 2010 recap of this year in music. I love exploring their list, sifting for gems that I missed during the year. Last year I discovered Fanfarlo this way, and they became a band that I just adored and wouldn&#8217;t stop talking about to people. And I tend to like NPR&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/12/11/new-music-buke-and-gass/</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Photography Night</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Saturday I hosted a sort of dinner + photography night. I ran into Karthik over Thanksgiving when Krupali was up here, and felt bad that I hadn&#8217;t invited him over yet. Then I ran into Mary and Matt and of course they hadn&#8217;t been over yet either (I know, for shame). Combined with the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/12/09/photography-night/</link>
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		<title>Thanksgiving Week Photography</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Since I didn&#8217;t go anywhere for my Thanksgiving Day vacation (thanks, Apple!), I decided to have some fun around town by renting some fancy lenses for my DSLR camera. My friend Gregg told me about borrowlenses.com, a company based in the Bay Area that lets people rent lenses at affordable prices &#8212; when compared to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/11/29/thanksgiving-week-photography/</link>
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		<title>Brunch, Big Game, and Bands</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Saturday I headed down to Palo Alto for some football, brunch, and more football. Picked up Amit and first stopped at the Old Pro to watch the NC State vs UNC-Chapel Hill game, bright and early at 9am. Oh, the things we must do out here on the West Coast. Around 11 we headed [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/11/27/brunch-big-game-and-bands/</link>
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		<title>Coit Tower</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last weekend the weather was so nice it begged you to be outside. We&#8217;re talking 75 degrees, sunny, and no wind&#8230;.in the middle of November. Unreal. I took a walk in the afternoon, first swinging by a San Francisco Public Library branch just a block away to get a library card, then hopped on the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.saketvora.com/2010/11/18/coit-tower/</link>
			</item>
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