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Apr. 30th, 2008
06:21 pm - View fom the other side
I hit somebody while biking home today. I was in the bike lane, proceeding at a good clip down a nice flat stretch of road. A large delivery truck was parked along the curb. As I zipped by it, a guy jumped out of the truck and into the bike lane, about 4 feet in front of me. Calling out to warn him, I braked hard and skidded into him pretty hard. Of course, I apologized immediately but not before he swore in surprise at being collided with. The great thing about bicycles, however, is that I didn't even knock him over and he seemed to be fine.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/opiummmm/foxies/happy.gif)
thankful
Current Music: "Stay (I Missed You)" - Acoustic - Lisa Loeb
Mar. 17th, 2008
08:58 am - Observations on watching a kid use a computer
Yesterday I was helping a kid edit an essay at the Pirate Supply Store - it's a front for a writing clinic - and couldn't help but notice some interesting characteristics of the manner in which he used the computer.
Like many people, he was using webmail as online storage. Surprisingly, he was using his mom's Yahoo/SBC account instead of having one of his own. I've heard that Google was surprised to discover how many people type entire domain names into their search box instead of the browser's address bar but watching this in person is still pretty weird. The kid typed "yahoo.com" into the Safari search box, which brought up Yahoo as the top hit. That's when it got even more bizarre. Google had conveniently provided links to the commonly used subsections of Yahoo in the search result. The first of these was Mail, on which I expected to see the kid click. Instead he just clicked on the main link and went to the yahoo home page before eventually logging in and arriving at his inbox.
The next observation to surprise me was the difficulty he had selecting text with the mouse. I'd previously assumed that any middle-school kid in San Francisco would be an expert mouse-user and he certainly displayed no other signs of impeded dexterity so I am tempted to attribute this difficulty to unfamiliarity with basic usage of a mouse. My hunch is somewhat supported by his complete surprise at my introduction of the scroll-wheel to his arsenal of mouse-using techniques. Later on I noticed that he tended to backspace his way through multiple words upon realizing that he'd mistyped one instead of just repositioning the cursor. Admittedly, I have seen this behaviour in expert computer users as well.
Made me wonder how much exposure kids really get to computers in school and how many kids in this city lack access to one at home. Maybe desktop computers are just getting old though, since he seemed to have no trouble using his cell-phone. Finally, I can't help but wonder if there's a way to make the enormous number of people currently using webmail as storage to start using the more effective tools we now have available for storing dynamic textual documents on the Web.
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: He Wasn't - Avril Lavigne
Mar. 6th, 2008
09:30 pm - A sad ending to an otherwise excellent tale
Last night VMware Workstation was inducted into the Jolt Awards hall of fame. To celebrate, my manager gifted each member of the Workstation UI team with a bottle of now-hard-to-find Jolt cola and then took us out to a pub. I stashed my jolt bottle into the side pocket of my backpack while biking home from the train station in the city. Along the way, one of my shoes managed to come off so I bent down to put it back on. Sudden;y there was a crash and fizzy liquid all over the street below me. My jolt had fallen out.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/opiummmm/foxies/sad.gif)
sleepy
Current Music: January Friend - Goo Goo Dolls
Feb. 22nd, 2008
09:47 am - Democracy and me: from kites to teabags
My introduction to the notion of democracy dates back to 1988 when General Zia, then then military head of state, was assassinated in an aeroplane explosion. During the weeks and months that followed, the country was engulfed by the competition between various political parties to fill the power vacuum left in Zia's wake. Karachi, as the country's commercial centre, was thrust into the midst of this political maelstrom. Being a naturally curious child, I was fascinated by the fervent political campaigning and have a vivid memory of drawing the flags of various political parties onto kites and trying to fly them from the 3rd story balcony of one of my grandmother's neighbours. At the time, I could not fully appreciate the magnitude of what was going on; I just knew that it was more exciting than the placid existence I had known during Zia's regime.
Nine years and three ousted Prime Ministers later, I had a different taste of democracy when Jean Chrétien, mangling both English and French equally, thundered to a second term as Prime Minister. This election was an order of magnitude less chaotic than any I'd seen before and Chrétien was very popular amongst the people. I even voted for his party to elect him for a third term in 2000. Our faith in him, however, was rewarded by the sort of corruption I thought didn't happen in industrialized nations. A tad disillusioned but unwilling to betray my socially liberal values with a Conservative vote, unable to vote for the Bloc because they didn't run in my riding and uninspired by the NDP, I cast my ballot in favour of the Greens. Thanks to the regionally fractured electoral system, the Greens didn't even win a single seat out the 308 available, despite securing more than 4% of the popular vote (while the Bloc exploited the same systemic defect to grab more than a sixth of the seats with a mere 11% of the popular vote). It was around that time when I decided that democracy ought to be liquid not representative.
Fast forward another eleven years and I find myself living in yet another country and unable to vote (despite being taxed). Reviving an ancient tradition here, I threw some tea into the Boston Harbour when I was there recently.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/opiummmm/foxies/working.gif)
artistic
Current Music: All Awake - I Mother Earth
Jun. 12th, 2007
07:25 am - Truck stuck on a hill
Living on a hill with a 19 degree incline can be pretty interesting sometimes. I was awoken around 5:45 this morning by a pressure horn. Wondering what could have necessitated that, I glanced out the window to see an 18-wheeler frozen in place as it was about to crest the intersection at the top end of my block, all its hazard lights blinking. The driver was pacing around outside it, consumed by his cell-phone. Apparently something had broken down at a rather inopportune moment.
The truck remained there, blocking whatever scant traffic might have wanted to use the street, for over an hour before it was wrenched free by an enormous tow-truck with a cop-car on standby. [I did get a photograph of the truck but the driver politely requested that I not take one so I won't post it online.]
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Video Blues - Matthew Osborne
Apr. 8th, 2007
07:22 am - Da fuzz nevah lets us have any fun...
I went to a show last night. Even before I got to the room where the band was playing, I could tell that it was going to be very loud. A little hearing loss builds character
, I thought to myself. Not long after I walked in, I noticed that a uniformed cop had appeared. This is going to be a good show
, I told myself. But no, he had actually come to shut down the place due to complaints of excessive noise. The venue gave us a full refund but it was a bummer for the band because a couple of them had travelled from San Diego to play here.
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Unwritten Letter - Vienna Teng
Feb. 5th, 2007
11:28 pm - Pb != C
I was at a super bowl party yesterday afternoon and at one point there was a guy who, for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, was poking himself in the arm with the point of a mechanical pencil. The following brief conversation took place as a consequence.
Random guy: Hey, do you want to give yourself lead poisoning?
Yours truly: You know that pencil lead is actually just graphite, right?
RG: yeah but there's lead in graphite.
YT: No, graphite is just Carbon!
RG: Doesn't lead contain some Carbon though?
YT: No! Lead and Carbon are both elements.
RG: dude, are you, like, a chemist or something?
Current Mood: shocked
Current Music: Disappointment - The Cranberries
Dec. 26th, 2006
09:31 pm - Fashion is insane...
I was at The GAP today afternoon looking for some new pairs of pants. After wading my way through hordes of frenzied shoppers for several minutes, I found a few that I liked and decided to try them on. That's when I discovered that they had buttons instead of zippers for the fly. Whose brilliant idea was that? "Let's take something that's really easy to use and replace it with something else that's nearly impossible to use. It'll be awesome!" Argh!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/opiummmm/foxies/angry.gif)
aggravated
Jun. 30th, 2006
06:20 am - 2 degrees for the price of 1.25
Those who know me well will already know this but I didn't graduate on time. First I stuck around for an extra term to complete the requirements for my B.Math in CS (with an English minor) and then I stuck around for yet one more term taking courses (like Psych 101 and Macroeconomics) that I'd always wanted to take but hadn't had time for. It was during that final 10th term of school that I got hired by VMware. Consequently, I needed a diploma for my TN-1 work permit. Since I had met my graduation requirements in Fall 2004, I simply went to the university administration and asked them to grant my degree post haste. They did so but timestamped it January 2005 to reflect when I'd met the degree requirements.
Fast forward to this June 2006 and they conferred upon me another degree. It's also a B.Math in CS (with the same minor) but dated this month. So I now have 2 diplomas from Waterloo in identical fields of study. And I didn't attend the convocation ceremony for either one of them.
Current Mood: amused
Jun. 29th, 2006
08:13 am - food and biking
I went out for dinner with a bunch of co-volunteeers last night. Normally I take forever deciding what to eat because there are too many dishes that sound equally good but when I saw "buffalo tenderloin" on the menu I simply had to order it because I haven't had bison meat in ages. When my meal arrived it looked strangely like chicken, however. Apparently "buffalo" meant wings. It was still delicious.
I also discovered that my friend Zane will be in Victoria, BC this Saturday so I invited him to hang with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
a_chatterbox and me while we're there.
On my way home last night I biked 12 miles from Santa Clara in an hour (stopping at numerous red lights along the way).
Current Mood: chipper
May. 18th, 2006
07:41 am - Smll wrld aftr all
I was at a jazz concert by Leftover Dreams last night and during the intermission I ran into one of my Math frosh leaders from 1999: Buddy Betts! Apparently he's actually working on that mind-blowing new game called Spore that the legendary Will Wright designed.
Current Mood: surprised
Jan. 18th, 2006
08:52 pm - Me fiefdom fer a pair o' dry sockses!
I've had some clothes hung out to dry for a few days now. Today I found myself down to my last pair of clean socks. Furthermore, our plumbing got jammed by the roots of a nearby tree so I had to call in the plumber. Since I had to be home a bit earlier than usual to let him in, I decided to take my clothes down from the line while it was still sunny outside. Sadly, I failed to notice that the clothes basket had some rainwater in it... until after all my socks were thoroughly soaked. I was so annoyed that I had to sit down for a minute before removing the rest of my clothes. Alas, I am now in a bind and shall have to reuse today's socks.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/opiummmm/foxies/energetic.gif)
bouncy
Current Music: Rush - 2112
Jan. 13th, 2006
08:03 pm - Small favours
If ever there was a good time to accidentally spill fruit juice all over myself, it was while completely decked out in water-proof clothing.
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: ABBA - Why Did It Have To Be Me
Nov. 11th, 2005
12:56 pm - Mere words cannot do this justice...
You haven't truly suffered until you mistake wasabi for guacomole.
Current Mood: uncomfortable
Nov. 8th, 2005
11:47 pm - Some personal revelations inspired by tonight's BayCHI talk
Eight years ago I discovered Visual Basic 3. At the time I had only ever used simple imperative languages like GW BASIC and PC Logo so the ability to create user interfaces via direct manipulation was both impressive and addictive. About a year later, after having tried to build a customer and sales management system and failing miserably, I became disenchanted with VB and swore off it forever.
Tonight at BayCHI I listened to Alan Cooper talk about the death march and how to avoid it. One of his points was that, in addition to the nontechnical aid provided by product management and executive direction, good software development requires 3 different technical roles that are generally muddled together, to disastrous effect, in most software companies. For the purpose of explanation he assigned them labels: programmers write code to be shipped by adhering to well-defined process and are concerned by the minutiae of production-quality software but need to be good at solving complex problems that arise in the process of crafting code; design engineers create the detailed architecture that the programmers will use to build the software but need to be good at writing throwaway code fast so they can tackle the tough conceptual issues via rapid prototyping; interaction designers envision and describe the user experience that the software is eventually going to provide so they need to be able to translate between the otherwise mutually incomprehensible jargon employed by geeks and suits.
If you're wondering into which camp you fall, I think an effective way to determine this is based upon your programming language of choice. Interaction designers will tend to prefer visual programming (like Flash or VB) or RAD for creating quick mock-ups of the user experience; design engineers will tend to prefer weakly-typed esoteric languages (Like SmallTalk, Lisp and Ruby) for iteratively prototyping solutions to challenging problems; programmers will tend to prefer strongly typed mainstream languages (like C++). Alternately, consider which of these goals is closest to your heart: end-user satisfaction and productivity enhancement (Interaction designer), a clean design based upon the best technology (design engineer), or releasing software that is standards-compliant, reliable, efficient and secure (programmer).
But what does this mean for the executives running software companies? Well, they need to avoid mixing up the 3 distinct roles so that people do what they excel in and each task has sufficient brainpower devoted to it. Furthermore, the software ideas should begin with the interaction designers and end end up as code produced by the programmers with critical guidance from the design engineers midway through.
Anyway, when I heard Alan elucidate this division among the technical staff I suddenly understood why I've felt such an identity crisis ever since I decided to study computer science and become a computer programmer eight years ago. My heart has never been in the code; I'm really cut out to be an interaction designer but am also fairly well suited to being a design engineer. The reason I became fascinated by computer programming back in high school is because I was enthralled by the prospects of how computer software could improve our lives and implicitly recognized that writing code was the only way to make these dreams a reality. Later on I noticed the distinction between programming and design engineering. Realizing that I was more interested in and adept at the latter, I gravitated toward what was then termed software architecture and almost ended up studying it in grad school. But about a year ago I began to creep back toward my original spark of interest in interaction design, which is what compelled me to jettison my plans for grad school in favour of a position on VMware's UI team where I now spend time in all 3 aforementioned roles of software development.
What I'd like to do is eventually increase the amount of time I spend on interaction design instead of programming. Unfortunately, Alan's encouragement to lavish more resources upon interaction design has not yet been taken to heart by most software companies. The obvious solution would be to start my own company. Philip Greenspun actually presented an idea for a startup tonight but it involves hardware so the Cooper model of running a successful software company can't be applied to it easily.
It's all very exciting. But I'm the sort of person who could have multiple heart-attacks while biking through rush-hour traffic with rabid pit-bulls snapping at my heels and then say it was an exciting trip... So what do I know?
Update: after a long IM discussion with adamspitz I am now convinced that the best software developers are those who understand and enjoy all 3 roles.
Current Mood: crushed
Current Music: No Doubt - End It On This
Oct. 29th, 2005
10:02 pm - Kefir >> milk
Ever since I was a kid I have been unable to drink plain white cow milk without suffering from a powerful urge to throw up. I'm not lactose intolerant because if I add a strong flavour to the milk I can drink it with no ill-effects. So for years I drank chocolate milk to get the calcium that it seemed was best absorbed from milk. That's actually how I ended up with the nickname QuikChange.
However, in the summer of 2003 I got a cold and my chest filled with phlegm. I don't generally get sick and I'm not a fan of taking medication unless absolutely necessary so I simply ignored the cold for a few days until my immune system vanquished it. The problem was that the phlegm didn't leave with the infection. It made me cough all day, which was very annoying. I was even having trouble sleeping at night and was forced to resort to taking NyQuil. It was a sad situation that went on for almost a month.
Then I went to visit shade_42's mom while in Montreal for a weekend. Upon hearing of my plight, she suggested that I discontinue drinking milk for a few days as it tends to prolong pulmonary congestion. I did as she suggested and in a few days I stopped coughing. At this point I was so relieved not to have my lungs filled with phlegm that I developed a reluctance to drink milk again. When I mentioned this to my vegan friend Caro she told me that milk is not really a very good source of calcium anyway and encouraged me to stop drinking it. And so I switched to drinking soy milk instead.
But a_chatterbox periodically warned me that I wasn't getting enough calcium by avoiding milk. And she's in SciBiz so she knows about that sort of stuff. For a long time I couldn't figure out what to do, with my granola-eating tree-hugging hippie/vegan friends telling me to continue avoiding milk and my biology-steeped dairy-industry-influenced friends telling me I needed to drink milk to get my RDI of calcium. Even the Carrotine Kid was perplexed.
But this weekend I discovered Lifeway kefir, which seems to solve most of my problems by providing a healthy source of calcium that I actually enjoy drinking and is produced from the milk of cows treated with love and respect. canoe_drew had actually introduced me to kefir back in 2003 but I hadn't thought of using it as a source of calcium until I saw the label advertising it as such in the grocery store today.
Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: Tegan & Sara - Superstar
Oct. 24th, 2005
08:12 am - This was weird even by my standards...
While I was walking through the reunion celebration on the Stanford campus this weekend a woman greeted me enthusiastically. My memory banks unable to recognize her face, I was taken aback. She addressed me by name I'd never heard. I had to politely inform her that I was not the one she had assumed me to be. She countered by claiming I looked just like him. Normally I would chalk this down to the "all of a different race look the same" phenomenon but here in the Valley there is far too much ethnic diversity for that to be feasible. I was intrigued. Then she blurted out that the man for whom she had mistaken me was actually 41 years old and she was about to tell him/me that he/I looked really good after all these years. So I look really good for a 41 year old... I would bloody well hope so! But now I really want to meet this alleged doppelganger of mine to see what I'll probably look like at 41.
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Fiona Apple - Never Is A Promise