http://wistdom.com/ The personal site of Sarah Tan, a Singaporean-American front-end web developer living and working in Cambridge, MA en alias@wistdom.com Copyright 2008 2008-03-09T00:01:01-05:00 http://wistdom.com/site/sxsw-the-end-of-the-second-day/ http://wistdom.com/site/sxsw-the-end-of-the-second-day/#When:00:01:01Z The post title is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s only 6 p.m. as I write this. However, it’s the end of the SXSW Saturday for me. I’m waiting in the hotel for my high school friend Heather to pick me up and whisk me away to Round Rock, TX, where our mutual high school friend Heather is getting married tonight. The timing of the wedding is very much part of the reason I decided to come to SXSW again this year, even on my own dime. After all, if I was already going to be in town during SXSW, could I really not attend? I don’t think any good geek could not. 2008-03-09T00:01:01-05:00 http://wistdom.com/site/first-day-computer-troubles/ http://wistdom.com/site/first-day-computer-troubles/#When:18:33:00Z Turns out that putting my laptop in check-in baggage wasn’t such a hot idea. Also, Vanessa’s laptop gets hacked. As I mentioned, we were geeking out. I had a minor issues when I turned on my computer last night. The LCD screen has some damage on the right side, about an inch wide going halfway up from the bottom. Not a huge issue, but it’s a consequence of deciding to check in my laptop instead of carrying it with me (I carried my camera instead). I’m also hopeful because this happened when I was in Oxford, and after a few months it “repaired” itself, though that was just a single pixel line, not nearly the extent of what I have now. I’ve been using a 2002 HP laptop and have just been waiting for it to die because buying a new MacBook Pro. Really wasn’t planning on anything happening during SXSWeek. But the main computer drama in our room has been Van’s computer. It connected itself to the Free Public WiFi, and within minutes had her computer hacked. Turns out it’s not an actual wireless access point, but rather an ad hoc computer-to-computer network. Sarah (who has IT goddess creds) has been working on it for the last hour+. Looks like the registry was modified to not allow executable files to run, among other things. [Update] Vanessa got an XP Pro CD from a friend. But the repair isn’t going well, and it keeps throwing errors. In the meantime, she’s ordered a new MacBook Pro, same model I’m going to get, I’ve decided. 2008-03-07T18:33:00-05:00 http://wistdom.com/site/sxsw-2008-begins/ http://wistdom.com/site/sxsw-2008-begins/#When:17:35:01Z SXSW 2008 has begun! Thanks to having attended Interactive last year, there are a lot more things that I knew how to prepare for compared to last year. The main things were booking my hotel early to get the Hampton and arranging to sharing a room to keep costs down, now that I actually knew people who were coming back. SXSW 2008 has begun! Thanks to having attended Interactive last year, there are a lot more things that I knew how to prepare for compared to then. The main things were booking my hotel early to get the Hampton and arranging to sharing a room to keep costs down, now that I actually knew people who were coming back. I arrived last night around midnight and took the Super Shuttle to the hotel, where Sarah and Vanessa had arrived before me. Breakfast at the Hampton consisted of early celebrity sightings—Stan and Rob from Happy Cog, and a large portion of the Brit Pack, including Jon Hicks, Andy Budd, Richard Rutter, and Natalie Downe. The three of us then got in line to pick up our badges about 15 minutes before it actually opened, and thus missed the massive queues that I endured last year. I had a minor double-take because my badge had my picture from last year, which I had replaced. So a short and easy trip to the help desk got the right picture back. Picked up our swag bags, and we’ve been geeking out at the hotel, figuring out a private wifi connection and blogging about our conference experiences before. This is Van’s third SXSW, my second, and Sarah’s first, so we’ve all got different perspectives on it. I switched out the lens on my camera to the kit lens (18-70) instead of my zoom lens for this trip. I’d been getting a little tired of photography lately because I never seemed to me able to see anything different. The wide angle provided instant satisfaction, and I’m looking forward to using this lens again, both for capturing SXSW and producing shots that I like. The airport terminal at Logan Blogging 2008-03-07T17:35:01-05:00 http://wistdom.com/site/the-first-house-party/ http://wistdom.com/site/the-first-house-party/#When:17:34:00Z My roommate and I had a house party on the Saturday of the long Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. I cleverly timed it so that Sarah (who is excellent social lubricant) would be in town from Philly, and convinced the boy and his roommates to move their Saturday party to the Friday. My roommate and I had a house party on the Saturday of the long Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. I cleverly timed it so that Sarah (who is excellent social lubricant) would be in town from Philly, and convinced the boy and his roommates to move their Saturday party to the Friday. This was the first house party I had ever hosted or planned. This tells you that I am not really the party type. It turns out that parties are always more work than expected, even for experienced party-throwers, such as the boy and his roommates. It should therefore be no surprise that I was in way over my head. But everything came together, and I was rather shocked that a good time was had by all. We did not run out of food or drink; people from different social groups mingled and were amiable; and there were no spills on furniture. Only one glass broke, but that was actually in the preparation hubbub before anyone arrived. Party pictures are never good, though, even for a civilised party like this one. However, this was near the end of the night, and I think we held up exceptionally well. Also noteworthy was the amazing home-made banana bread that Stephanie brought (not pictured). Me, Claudine, and Stephanie The snack table Personal 2008-01-20T17:34:00-05:00 http://wistdom.com/site/welcome-to-the-new-same-as-the-old/ http://wistdom.com/site/welcome-to-the-new-same-as-the-old/#When:02:13:00Z In some senses Wistdom has never been more than a perpetual wait-and-see. Much like my life, I have vaguely wanted it to be worthwhile without knowing exactly how to do that. I still don’t know the destination, but the journey has to start. And it starts at the beginning. I wrote this to be the first placeholder (as opposed to keeping it redirecting to my homepage on college webspace) for Wistdom sometime in 2005. I normally dislike reading my past work, but I think this has held up remarkably well. In some senses Wistdom has never been more than a perpetual wait-and-see. Much like my life, I have vaguely wanted it to be worthwhile without knowing exactly how to do that. I still don’t know the destination, but the journey has to start. And it starts at the beginning. I wrote this to be the first placeholder (as opposed to keeping it redirecting to my homepage on college webspace) for Wistdom sometime in 2005. I normally dislike reading my past work, but I think this has held up remarkably well. I wish for fresh flowers and bubbles. I wish for close friends and irreplaceable conversations and laughter and tears. I wish to be someone’s first true love. I wish for autumn colours in July and for wet snow in April. I wish for peaceful sunrises and blinding sunsets. I wish for hours that make no sense when looked at from the outside in. I wish for mornings of waking up to see spring blossoming outside my window. I wish for pauses when the leaves rustle overhead to sound like evening high tide. I wish for afternoons of lying on the grass under the shifting shadows of oak trees. I wish for time to make a plan. I am determined to be happy. I still do, and I still am. Blogging 2008-01-02T02:13:00-05:00