I think I hate people…
Posted in Nerd Stuff, Personal Stuff on October 6th, 2007 by Mike Nguyen – Be the first to commentI’m sitting at Panera Bread with the sounds of light jazz music in the air, a bunch of suburban parents reprimanding their out of control kids, and a Panera bread staff just barely controlling the lunch hour crowds. Oh, and I have delicious iced green tea. A good Saturday indeed spoiled by the fact that I should be doing my schoolwork than blogging. My adoring readers are always so demanding.
The only reason I’m in Panera instead of the comforts of my room is because internet has been down since Tuesday…and is still out. Stupid SBC/Yahoo. To make matters worse, my dad just got home from a business trip (today is his birthday), so there was no way for me to fix it anyways. And, it also meant I had to sit at home (with no internet access) and watch Kailey Buttons, the dog with enough expendable energy to power New England for 15 years. And there was a dead mouse in our front yard. Oh, and a family friend was diagnosed with cancer. All in all, a great week.
There were some highlights worth sharing. Monday I took a day off to volunteer at an amazingly fancy golf tournament in the TPC in Cromwell. Nothing says vacation to me than a lawn chair, The World is Flat, and a beautiful slightly breezy day on Hole 17. I’ve never felt so relaxed in my life. To make things better, executives gave me money as I sat there (I was money collecting). Seriously, you’re jealous.
Wednesday night, I left my dog home alone for what would be an entire day and evening (moms are no use when they’re not home) to go to the Connecticut Forum. Topic was on today’s Technology. Speakers on the panel included Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist and Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. For a geek, I was pretty star-struck. I got free tickets from work which included free cocktails and a fancy three-course meal with the panelists beforehand.
Sometimes, working has its benefits. I felt like such an elitist, I contemplated spitting at the street trumpet player on my way into the theater.
Some fun facts from the Forum:
- I was shocked to learn how humanitarian both Jimbo and Craig are. You don’t realize how much Craigslist and Wikipedia are used to really HELP humanity until you hear it from the founders’ mouths. Jimmy Wales brought up a very insightful thought concerning the struggle of having advertisements on Wikipedia. Poor guy has to balance making very little money in order to appease the tiny fancies and adoration of Wiki users with the fact that the 30 million dollars worth of revenue a small Google ad could generate could be used to build schools and infrastructure in Africa. Out of all the dialects and languages of Africa, only two are represented in Wikipedia, and those communities are still very small and underdeveloped, much like reality.
- Craig Newmark has such a dry hilarious delivery, everything he says is short and hilarious.
- Jimmy carries a Sidekick 2 and a regular cell phone. Craig carries a Blackberry and a very small but fully functional chunky computer in his pocket. UMPC’s, I think they’re called.
- Craig is also customer service representative of Craigslist. He spends most of his day answering complaint calls and emails because he felt he was better at that than management.
In other news, I’m thinking of jetting off to Europe, by myself, for five days on my birthday. “By myself” being the key words. Is that weird of me? I’ve been craving independence and solitude ever since I moved back home. Go figure…
