Unaware Portrait
More reminiscing. This is fun.
Archive for July, 2005
Blast From the Past
A photo from sophomore year. Mihae and Kevin. I wonder what he was telling her. Anyway, this is a test of photo blogging from my Flickr account.
Mark Seiden
NY Times does a story about “penetration testers”. It is the information-technoology-equivalent of paying a burgular to break into your house to learn of security weakness. The story contains a profile of Mark Seiden, who apparently went to Columbia:
In a sense, Mr. Seiden’s career as an accomplished intruder working on the side of good began while he attended Columbia University in the late 1960′s. He studied mathematics and linguistics but, as he described it, spent most of his time working at the radio station. He was at Columbia when students commandeered buildings and the police sprayed the protesters with tear gas. To gain access to the story as it was unfolding, he learned the tunnel system that honeycombed the campus and figured out how to pick locks so that he could enter from below the buildings that students were occupying.
Upon Entering a Bathroom…
Nothing is more welcome than the sight of urinals. It is the assurance that I indeed have entered the correct restroom.
Nectar
In the Times’ recent article about good wines under $10, they had this to say about the J. Vidal-Fleury Côtes-du-Rhône 2001 (a red wine):
J. Vidal-Fleury Côtes-du-Rhône 2001 – $8 (***) – Earthy and balanced, with lingering fruit flavors and a great sense of place.
What the fuck kind of drink is wine that people will use phrases like “great sense of place” to describe it??? Clearly the kind of drink I need to get involved with.
Beaten
Girl beat me again in Scrabble. I am now 0-2. How is this possible? This is a board game about words, fer crying out loud. I’m the Dervish of Diction and the Guru of Gaming. But she’s wupping me so bad, I have resorted to making up words “idyllum” (54 points, booya). Shhhh.
I’m using Flickr
I bought a decent digital camera a couple weeks ago, and my interest in photography is re-emerging. As such, I’ve started posting photos to my Flickr account. Recently I’ve uploaded an album for Columbia Class Day. You’re going to need to sign up for a free account to view them because I’ve marked them as Viewable By Friends Only, to protect everyone’s privacy. Because I’m paranoid.
Relief
Girl is in town for the next couple of weeks, visiting me before school starts in California. It is water in my Gobi.
I was on a tear with this blogging thing, but now that she’s here, it may dip slightly. Historically, my blogging died when all the funny clever stuff I thought of got told to her instead of getting posted on this space. A thousand of your delights, dear reader, does not equal a single smile in Person.
Low Key
Just to play around with some WordPress features, I’ve added passwords to some posts. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Full Load
Work’s been busy. Sometimes I feel like I am doing the job of two and a half people with the workload of three.
Hard to complain though; my job satisfaction is high, which I believe is rare among my classmates. What a difference working for a not-for-profit institution makes.
My Voice Is My Passport
When someone answers the phone and asks “Hello?” the response, in my experiences, is often “Hey, it’s me.” This is clearly a biometric transaction.
Review: Batman Begins
What an amazing cinematic realization of the Batman world. Not only, by far, the best Batman movie, but also, one of the best superhero movies of all time.
They nailed the dirty chaos of Gotham City (Bladerunner-inspired or not). A dream cast, led by a youthful-looking yet believably tormented Christian Bale. And I was genuinely scared by the Scarecrow scenes.
i must say though, the story of Batman’s first years seems to be a story more easily told as compared to the other Batman plots. The story line is more clearly laid-out; the character growth needed, more evident.
I am your technical support
Spent the morning answering some computer questions. Someone dropped off a laptop for me to fix. Isn’t it Saturday?
Update: Fog Creek Copilot speaks to all CS majors’ woes:
Just because you’re a programmer doesn’t mean you have to be the help desk for a dozen friends, relatives, and the people in the apartment next door. Does it?
First thought about their project: uh… you better have a good privacy policy. They are literally being a man in the middle in order to avoid problems with firewalls and NAT setups.
Out in the Open
Dear Boss,
Thank you for drawing all of my co-workers’ attention to the existence of this blog. I appreciate that.
Regards,
Crab