Patent Pending

Tonight at a family gathering (for new year), my cousin from the US Patent and Trademark Office gave me a T-shirt. I am excited.

Thanks Xavier.

My day in San Francisco

The holiday has brought the family out to dinner at China town in San Francisco today. I average the city only 1 to 2 times a year since I moved to the bay area and hardly stayed for long, fearful of the paralysing traffic. Today my parents and I were on foot and I had a chance to try out my mother's new camera.

First off was how people dispose of their old furnitures; a fridge, a tub, chairs and lamps, all out of the window!

Then there was the city's pointy landmark, (since when it was referred to as the pyramid?)

Last stop, China town (it was a bit late and dark). Amazing how these buildings stay the same since they were rebuilt after the great earthquake. (I don't know so, but it sure looks that way).


Confusing street signs, narrow streets packed with holiday shoppers in union square, high risings blocking my GPS' signals; my heart stays in my torso along side other internal organs - I left nothing in San Francisco.

Subliminal messages and my phone experiment

I am just seeing a little too many subliminal messages recently. First it was junk mails that told me not to trash (what?)

Then came a coffee pot that claimed to hold eternally fresh jo (huh?)

What am I stupid?

The thing is, once in a while I notice the handset of my phone at my desk stinks. I figure someone must have slabbered generously in my absence. So last year I stuck a post-it there:

That's right, you can only dial emergency numbers from this phone. The result? It was almost as if people made a point to prove their rebelling guts. I have had all sorts of people picking up and dialing. I even had a tech support guy leaving voice mail for me from my phone!

I am no authority and I've never done research or what not. But I think people are generally not stupid. The key to these sort of things is probably being subliminal - the message has to not stand out like my note, rather, blend into the background, catch you off guard.

Last month I changed the MOTD of my VPN box to "you better get that rash looked at". We'll see how many people start scratching.

The post office is ruining Christmas

I don't mail packages very often, so every trip to the post office to do so is a new experience to me. Three years ago was the guy who turned back everyone for not bullet proofing their boxes. Two years ago was a line that ended in Alaska. Last year, well, last year was a blurr. But every year is a different custom declaration form, reliably growing bigger and thicker.

Truth be told, I hate mailing gifts (that's why I don't do that, hehe). Wrapped gifts are supposed to be a surprise; sometimes there's as much in the ripping open as there's to the gift itself - the anticipation and the excitment. But oh no, they have to make you put down "reindeer sweater", ruining the surprise (or the joke). Can they not find out if I am mailing contraband or 100 carat diamond rings using X-rays or the likes? If they can, what's the point? If they can't, wouldn't I've lied?

Fall

Green dotted with fallen leaves. That's when you realize it's fall.


I work at the building to the right.