Glassblowing!

I went to a glasswork class with my friend Ione, in San Jose.



Ione making a glass paperweight. It is extremely hot in the glass studio, and we all regretted wearing black.



Me using tongs to pull on the edges of my glass flower.



The glass is fluid, so we had to roll it back and forth to avoid it dripping into a puddle on the ground. Here you can see the flower in progress, from the side.



The finished glass flower. I gave it to Elaine as a Sunfire flower ornament.



The finished paperweight. I gave it to Yishan as a Sunfire paperweight.

I eventually passed 4 songs on Hard!

Playing "Rock Band" with a few friends, including a work colleague.  I am doing the vocals.

Me: "I am going to switch from Medium to Hard!"

Friend: "Time for hubris, I see."

Me: "It's hubris if we fail.  If we succeed, it's called ambition."

Colleague: "I think we'll be saying that one a lot."

Flood of tweets (fleets?)

Eating burritos with LG (now working at Twitter), Jon, and EDX.

Me: "LG, have you been watching the World Cup?"

LG: "Yes, in fact I watch the games very intensely, because the instant a goal is scored, we switch the Twitter GSLBs to point to a colo with better write performance.  Usually traffic is optimized for reads instead of writes."

Me: "Awesome."

funny chart

starcraft, chess

Conversation with a Korean games company executive, "Jun".

Greg: "Why didn't anyone in Korea make an RTS to compete with Starcraft? You guys had ten years!"

Jun: "That's like saying, 'Do you play Go? Why didn't you make another version of Go? That game is 5000 years old.' We didn't make another version because we were already playing Starcraft!"

Me: [lol]

Jun: "It's like if you said to someone, 'Would you like to play chess, or a chess-like game whose rules I made up?' They'd say, 'No, I'll play chess!'"

Spoiler alert for Sixth Sense, Star Wars, 300

Today LG and Jon drove down from SF to work out of Sunfire for the day.  During lunch at a kosher restaurant:

LG: "I have a T-shirt that spoils a whole bunch of movies.  Like, it says 'Darth is Luke's father.'"

Me: "That shirt is horrible.  I read several lines on it before realizing they were spoilers."

LG: "Haha yeah!  Or 'Bruce Willis is a ghost'."

Me: "That's so bad.  Sixth Sense is such an amazing movie when you get the twist."

LG: "Or '299 die.'"

Me: "Wait, what's that?  I don't know that one.  [horrified realization] Oh my God!!  LG!  Why did you do that?  Argh!"

LG: [laughing sheepishly] "You haven't watched it yet?  I'm sorry!  I didn't know!"

Me: "I can't believe that shirt ruined another movie when you're not even wearing it."

Retrofitting

At Sunfire yesterday, we had a couple of visitors from Google.

Me: "I got several recommendations to read this book called 'Good Calories, Bad Calories'."

Reena: "Don't all those nutrition books say the same thing?"

Me: "No.  For example, they differ over whether meat is good for you or bad.

Reena: "It's bad for you."

Me: "This book says it's fine."

Augustus: [joining in] "Oh, I want that book.  I'm looking for a book that will recommend the way I'm already eating."

Me: [lol]

iceland gay marriage

This is great!

Iceland Legalizes Gay Marriage, Prime Minister Marries Partner

Iceland has not only legalized gay marriage this past weekend, but its Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir married her long-term partner on the day it took effect, making her the world's only national leader with a same-sex spouse

Original article.

amusing iphone video

Thanks Sharam for showing me this.

yield a step, give an inch

My aunt has a best friend "Bea" in China.  I've met Bea a few times.  She is always cheerful, with a big smile.  She talks often about how she appreciates her husband of 30+ years for his kind heart and loyalty. Three years ago, I told her during a trip to Beijing how much I wanted to eat candied gourds, because I read about them in books but never ate them.  She took me around street vendors until we found a good place that sold them.

Once, Bea told us about how much she loves the fruit market near her house.  She said that the vendors all know her and greet her by name (or call her "sister" as is the local custom).  They save her favorite fruits for her, off to the side.

My aunt was curious, so she went the next day with Bea.  Afterwards she told me, "Those vendors gave her fruit that was over-ripe!  Those fruits are going to rot in a couple days. They were basically cheating her, yet she's still so happy."

I felt sympathy that Bea was being scammed and didn't even know it.  I thought my aunt is so much more sensible for catching on to the fruit vendors' tricks. But now I think Bea is the wisest one of us all.  She is happy-go-lucky and carefree, eating her overripe fruits, surrounded by a legion of friends because she is so fun to be around. She has one of the best marriages I've seen. Her daughter and son-in-law get along perfectly with her, and visit her frequently.  She is over 60 but looks at least 10 years younger. 

Bea gave me a hand fan once, which said in calligraphy, "Cherish being oblivious". 



As she gave it to me, she said that if you calculate every penny and argue every grievance, life is exhausting.  Instead, let yourself be oblivious sometimes.  "Yield a step," she said, "Give an inch.  And you will see that life is as limitless as the ocean and the sky."

technically your friend was correct

(All names have been changed.)

Rob: "I went on a date with this woman Melissa. It was a setup by my friend. She said that Melissa is smart, has an interesting job, and is stunning." [showing me a photo of Melissa, who is not attractive]

Me: "Did you know what she looked like when you went on the date?"

Rob: "Melissa sent me a different photo beforehand which looked a lot better than she does in real life. I was tricked because my friend said she's 'stunning'."

Me: "Well, you were stunned, right?"

R-rated octopus joke

At Azer's birthday dinner tonight, at Garçon in the Mission district.

Flora: "I heard a joke yesterday from my nephew.  What did the male octopus say to the female octopus?"

Me: "I want to see your Octopussy."

Flora: "No.  He said, 'I want to hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand.'"

Me: "Mine's better.  Or alternatively, he said, 'I eight her out last night.'"

Flora: "My nephew is 5.  I'm not telling him these."

life stages

At CM's birthday brunch on Sunday, five of us were talking on his patio. Henry gave an update on his ex-girlfriend who emotionally cheated on him, and is now in a long-distance relationship with another guy but still talks intensely to him. Rostam told us about his amazing first date with a woman last week, but the sparks are fading because she's too busy to hang out.

Me: "What's going to happen when we're all married and there's nothing juicy to talk about any more?"

Rostam: "There's always things to talk about at any stage: buying a house, having a kid, the kid going to school, parents' health problems, financial investments."

Me: "Those all sound incredibly boring to talk about."

Michael: "I'm with Niniane. Everything you just said sounds boring."

Lillers: [reassuringly] "Don't worry. I'm sure we won't all go into that stage at the same time."

Henry: "So you're saying that some of us will never find anyone to be with."

Lillers: "No, no."

Henry: "Then you're saying that by the time some of us are getting married, others of us will be getting divorced."

Me: [laughing really hard]

Henry: "I'm just making the implications explicit."

Sunfire office warming photos

The Sunfire office warming was last night.


People listening to introductions.


View from one of the windows.


Something funny happened to the side of the camera, which everyone is looking and laughing at.


Me with Sangeeta.


Action shot, with Elaine in foreground, and Yishan in the space to her right.

My favorite quote was at the entrance, when an attendee said cheerfully to me: "Sorry I'm late! I had to delay 30 minutes to sell my company to Playdom."

photos from Europe wedding trip

Here are some photos from traveling in the countries near Monaco right before the wedding. My friend Megan went on the trip with me. She has been my personal trainer for three years, and we are also friends.


Megan posing with her French hat.


Me in a newly purchased French hat!

The dress, shoes, and purse in this photo are also purchased in France. I usually dislike shopping, but Megan forcefully taught me to appreciate it on this trip.

She described ten rules of shopping: always show your friend what you tried on, go into many stores (not just a few), be super-nice to the sales clerk, and some others I forget. When I told this to my brother, he said, "You only remember three of the ten? That's only 30% retention rate!"


Megan mid-shopping.


Megan right before going for a run.


A cool art display in our hotel lobby.


A church. I always find it calming to sit inside a church during a busy day. You are assured of a quiet, respectful environment. No one will pester you, or try to sell you tourist junk, or get into a loud argument next to you.

The architecture itself is majestic and inspiring. I wonder how much of people's religious faith is influenced by how good it feels to go inside a church.


Vernazza, a little coastal town in Italy.


A multi-tier display of coconut, sold at a street vendor.

definition of a hipster

I've had difficulty understanding what a hipster is. People just describe attributes, like "hipsters wear tight jeans" or "hipsters look anorexic" or "hipsters are unhappy even in expensive homes".

It s like trying to understand what a Jewish person is like, when you only get surface descriptions such as "some of them have large noses" or "they have a ceremony called a Bar Mitzvah".

Anyway, today a new friend Renee was kind enough to define it for me:

I'd define a hipster as a cultural early adopter (as opposed to an early adopter of technology or fashions, though a hipster might be those too): someone who takes a certain delight in getting there first, whether there is a neighborhood, a restaurant, a hobby, a band, or whatever.

Do people agree?

funny things my dad says

Happy Father's Day to my dad!

I think these are more entertaining in Mandarin, so the Chinese speakers will appreciate it more.

"有人一生象 sin(x)，从零开始，到一。 还有人象 cos(x)，从一开始，到零。 反正从零到 2 * pi 积分，最后都是零。“
("Some people's lives are like sin(x): starts from zero and then increases to one. Others are like cos(x): starts at one and then goes to zero. Regardless, when you integrate from zero to two pi, it all ends up being zero in the end.")

"十件事里，有七八件顺利就满足了。 如果好处全让你们家得着了，那别人还活不活了？"
("Out of ten things, be content if seven or eight of them go well. If all the advantages in life accrue to your family, are other people going to keep on living?"）

"我昨天跟你妈说：你这次去法国参加婚礼，幸亏你没养猪。 你说：把猪搁哪儿？ 你说说看猪能搁哪儿。"
("Yesterday I was telling your mom: this time you went to Europe for a wedding, thank God you never got a pet pig. Tell me: where would you put the pig? Let's hear where you could put the pig while you're gone.")

:)

Elaine's wedding

Last week I went to my dear friend Elaine's wedding in Monte Carlo, Monaco.


The wedding was held at Hotel Hermitage. The day started off overcast, but thankfully cleared up in time for the ceremony.


Elaine's entrance was breathtaking. She looked so picturesque! Everyone gasped.


Cute. :)


The wedding cake was made of maccaroons.


Me with Victoria, another friend of the bride.


Hor d'oeuvres!


A pretty ornamental piece made of an orchid and candle in water.


The bride and groom were so relaxed throughout the evening. They both did brief Texan accents during their wedding vows (they are from Texas). Later we did a bunch of goofy dances on the dancefloor. They are such a silly and happy couple together. It was really sweet to see.

Sunfire furniture hilarity

Sunfire Offices doesn't have a coffee table yet. We ordered an ottoman online, but it hasn't arrived yet. Yesterday I came in and someone had constructed a coffee table out of empty furniture boxes.



The cardboard flower and vase were made by "Tao", one of the engineers in the office. It is even more adorable in person. The texture of the cardboard looks flower-like.

The real roses were brought by ex-Googler "Ava" in appreciation for the office space. It's really nice having flowers around.

On Tuesday, six office members went to IKEA to buy more desks and chairs, since all of our initial furniture is now in use. I was out of town during the trip. On my return, I asked "Vishnu" (ex-Google research scientist) how the trip went.

Vishnu: "The desks come in two parts: the glass surface and the four legs. Since we were getting eight desks, we needed 32 legs. After we put them into the cart, I counted the legs and there were only 31. I asked Yishan to count. He counted 33."

Me: [laughing]

Vishnu: "We had the four other people count, and each of them ended up getting a slightly different number. So we decided, like engineers, that we would just go to the checkout, and they would scan in the bar codes and tell us whether we have 32."

Me: "Oh, good idea."

Vishnu: "At the checkout, two different cashiers scanned it, and got two different counts. Finally, we spread them out on the floor and made bundles of four. We made a bundle of four, and then next to it, another bundle to make eight, then twelve, and so forth."

Me: [laughing harder than before]

Vishnu: "There ended up being 36 legs."

pork buns

Cute pork buns! (Photo courtesy of my friend Victoria)