I just got back from checking out the Perseid meteor shower. It’s pretty difficult to escape light pollution around here, but Reid was able to take us to a spot where we still had a pretty good view of the show. Pics below. (Click for full resolution.)
Now I just need to decide if I should try and sleep or just go to work really early.
A small challenge of going by two names:
Every time I send an email, I have to consider the recipient and remember if I’m supposed to sign as “Michael” or “Wysz.”
This morning, I could not find my keys. I searched my entire apartment before giving up and grabbing the spare key, which fortunately is no longer on the same keychain as my other key. Here’s what I found on the other side of the door:
Just testing you, Sunnyvale. I wanted to see if you’ve cleaned up your act. Congratulations, you passed.
This is my 200th entry on this blog. Exciting.
Tonight, I was told that people assumed I would not like to be hugged, so let me quickly address that here on my blog, the official source of all things Wysz. I like hugs. They feel good. My grandfather wrote a poem about hugs, but unfortunately I don’t have a copy of it with me to share. I do not mind being hugged.
I think that there are two things that may have caused people to assume that I do not like hugs:
The first thing I can’t do much about. It’s just the way I am, overly cautious. But as for the second one, allow me to explain myself. Some people are overly huggy. It’s not that they hug certain people too much; it’s that they hug too many people too soon. I’ll illustrate with a few examples as guidelines for how I feel, but keep in mind that these are not explicit rules. An overly huggy person may hug in any of these situations. I’ll let you know for which ones I would feel comfortable with a hug:
Meeting someone for the first time.
I would prefer not to.
Greeting a friend who I haven’t seen in a while
Bring it on.
Greeting a non-friend acquaintance (coworker, teacher, store clerk, friend of friend, friend of parent, etc.)
I’d really rather not. But this rule no longer applies if I consider the person to be a friend.
Saying goodbye to a friend who I won’t see for a while
Let’s hug it out.
Anytime with a really good friend or family member
Sounds good to me.
I generally don’t watch traditional news media, because I too often find it inefficient (mostly a series of teasers to keep you through the commercials) and irrelevant (celebrities).
Another thing that bothers me is that they so often leave obvious questions unanswered. Online, I often find myself wondering, what’s the URL of the company (or site!) they’re talking about? Nelson recently sent me this video of a car crashing into a diner (the patron is fine), but after watching it I was surprised to find that Reuters left two obvious questions unanswered: Why did a car drive into a diner, and was the driver injured?
Friday
On Friday afternoon, Google treated me to The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie. I’m not a huge comic fan (I’ve never read comics but I do end up seeing most of the movies), but I really enjoyed it. As other people have already noted, the Joker was a great character. One small issue I had with the movie was that the cell phone thing stuck out too much as it appeared squeezed in as a political statement about privacy. If they had built a story around Fox’s objection it could have been okay, but they didn’t.
That night, a few of us saw a Coldplay concert in San Jose. We arrived about 30 minutes after the doors opened, as part of the crowd known as “people who don’t go to concerts very often,” because as you probably know, the real band doesn’t come out until a couple hours later. The first group on the stage was some local band that had entered a contest to get to play before the show. They weren’t incredible, but I couldn’t have done any better. The next act had a more professional sound, but it wasn’t my kind of music. Jenny didn’t find it terribly exciting either. I think the last song was okay.
Coldplay of course finally did come out, and as Koklynn, Reid, and Charlene have already said, they did, as expected, put on a good show. I felt a little bad for Koklynn, who was stuck next to me and Nelson. While I am a fan of Coldplay and was really enjoying the show, it may not have been completely obvious that I was having a good time, because like Nelson, I was just sitting still (not even standing) and watching/listening. That’s just how I am at concerts and sporting events. I don’t yell, I don’t move to the beat, and I certainly don’t sing along. I do clap politely at the end of each song. It’s just how I am.
In addition to the music, I still can’t help but take notice of the technical aspects* of any show. While certainly not the most advanced rig out there, the subtle lighting for this show was still nice. My favorite non-musical part of the event was the laser show during Clocks. When I’m an eccentric billionaire, please be assured that my house will feature extensive use of fiber optics and lasers.
Saturday
Saturday started at about 3:00 for me with an afternoon of croquet at Stanford. I was proud of myself for attending such a high-class event, and even dressed up for the occasion. My dad later informed me that I didn’t really go all-out however, as a true croquet player would have worn all white.
After croquet, we ate dinner at Korea House in Santa Clara. The food was a little out of my league, but I did enjoy trying some new things and finding out that I liked them. Maybe I’m just too used to growing up with “American” restaurants, but is there some sort of water shortage in Santa Clara? The water glasses were tiny, and our table of six was given a single pitcher of water to fight over containing mostly ice. I’m more accustomed to the kinds of restaurants where you have to fend the waiters off with a fork in order to keep them from refilling your water after every sip. The experience reminded me of trying to eat breakfast in a restaurant where they bring you microscopic portions of orange juice, which never fails to frustrate me. But overall I enjoyed the experience, even though I felt a little weird that night. Maybe it was the sun. Maybe it was the food.
Sunday
My sister has informed me that today is National Ice Cream Day. I’m gonna go get some before midnight. I hope I can find some here in California that isn’t some organic yogurt or made from avocados.
And P.S. about this site: My advice form has seen very little action recently, so if you have a question, I encourage you to ask.
*Photo by Andrea Owens
Outside of specialized events such as concerts, people singing in public make me really uncomfortable.
Charlene has started a spinoff of Charvan. In lemur on a moonrocket, Chark is back home, blogging about things and stuff. I look forward to seeing where this one goes. Oh, and if you’re into Flash intros…
Every time I’m in a hardware store I want to own a house.
