remis
I've started and abandoned about 5 posts since I got back from Japan, and each time it was about something that intensely interested me, but I ran out of time to elaborate on or investigate further. All I'll say for now is that the DHTML world has gotten a lot more interesting in the last month and a half, and I feel honored to be a part of it.
As a related aside, being in SF seems to have this strange and wonderous side-effect by which you meet people you've always wanted to talk to as a mater of course. It really is a place where bright people go to hang out with other bright people. Despite all of it's failings, traffic, stupid politics, lack of weather, etc., I can't imagine being anywhere else right now.
Perhaps there's just something about this place that makes you feel like you should try to do something cool, even if you don't know what it is yet. I like that.
back!
We got back from Japan on Tuesday and have been jet-lagged ever since. I observed to a co-worker the other day that getting used to the time in Japan wasn't that hard since I could sleep in and do stuff whenever I wanted since I was, um, on vacation.
I've continued my radio-silence until now since I've been reburied under the mountain of stuff I left unfinished when I ran away for vacation. I've promised about 100 people pictures online at some point, but as I feel compelled to write captions for most of them, who knows when they will actually be up.
In other news, Dave Schontzler (of stilleye fame) has started work at Informatica for the summer as an intern in my group. Needless to say, I'm psyched. This summer looks to be getting under way very well indeed.
crickets
This site is about to go radio-silent for a couple of weeks. I'm going to Japan for 3 weeks if all goes well this week. I'll be back by the beginning of next month, but until then, enjoy the sweet sounds of crickets chirping.
new camera
People who have known me very well for the past 3 years or so can attest to the fact that I've been drooling over the concept (if not the execution) of a digital camera. Last weekend Jennifer was incredibly patient whilst I paced up and down the isles of cameras at Frys and turned my options over in my hands and tried to get a "feel" for one that I liked.
Until recently, I've been wedded to the concept of a nice SLR-body digital camera, but with the impending trip to Japan, I decided that portability had a higher priority than having the most control or the highest density sensor with the best optics. I picked up a Casio EX-P600 and a half-gig SD card. The initial results are encouraging, and it's faaaast. In "bestshot" mode, you can select from setup profiles for different conditions and subjects, and even save your own profiles.
Here's a picture (warning: 3meg) I took this morning at work. I certainly don't have any eye for this stuff yet, but at least the camera makes my meager attempts look pretty good.
