Author: Tony Tam
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“King of Boring”
C. wanted to play with me this morning while she was sick at home. And when I said I needed to work, she came up with a bunch of choice words for me. 1. King of boring 2. King of making fun of me 3. King of making my wish not complete The girl can express…
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C.’s PTA meeting
Today I met with C’s French teachers. Some cool highlights Kate is the leader in the advance French group Kate is well liked by all her classmates Kate is like a flower while the others are bees around her. She doesn’t seek out friends, others seek her out She was very shy before, but she is…
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Kate’s PTA Meeting
Today I met with Kate’s French teachers. Some cool highlights Kate is the leader in the advance French group Kate is well liked by all her classmates Kate is like a flower while the others are bees around her. She doesn’t seek out friends, others seek her out She was very shy before, but she…
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Playing Tourist In SF
if I don’t loose my curiosity and passion for what I am doing and where I live, I will constantly find jems and little moments of joy. My favorite spot here in the city — nice shot. it’s important to slow down and enjoy the little things in life. on my way to and…
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Latte Art #4
It’s been a while since I could pull a good shot and pour a decent piece of latte art. My last good one was #3 and I’ve gone through one pound of coffee without coming up with a pretty rossetta. But today I’m getting 2 pounds to try again.
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Reaching Higher And Falling
I’ve been asked whether I’ve ever failed before? My first answer was ‘no’, I can’t think of failure anywhere in my life. That bothered me for a few days until I realized why. I don’t fail because I don’t reach high enough. I reach for goals that I know I’ll achieve. Someone asked me if…
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Watch Out For Self Criticism
Last night I prepared a batch of patê fermenté and this morning I used it to make some fresh bread for breakfast. Kate helped with kneading and mixing and she made a snail bread for herself. When it was finally done, I thought it was not very good at all and was going to suggest…
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Latte Art Lesson #1
Recently I’ve been thinking that it would be cool one day if I became a part time barista. The art/craft of making expresso interested me after I listened to 2 podcasts from pf.net and coffeegeek.com. There is a 3rd wave coffee movement to lift up the consumption of coffee to the level of the wine…
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Facination With Door Knobs
When I was in Tuscany I couldn’t stop taking pictures of door hardware.. Here goes
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Story Of 2 Girls
C. decided that she liked the name ‘K.’ and she wants her alias to be ‘clara’ so we actually changed her name officially in school to ‘C.’. She had me write out this story for her and she supplied the drawings and the words.
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Getting Crazy With Cappuccino
Today my $500 Mazzer Mini grinder and my $60 Reg Barber tamper arrived and I pulled half a pound of Bluebottle coffee and started pulling 15 shots of espresso to tune it. I finally hit the perfect cup of cappuccino after the 16 th shot. It was sweet and actually better than Rituals.. All worth…
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Hiring For The Team
Image is from Kontra coffee in Copenhagen with my reflection, they are showing off their World Barista Championship trophies hiring the right engineers has always been a challenge. Do you hiring the best technical person but his personality may not fit well in the team? Do you hire someone who can learn quickly but is…
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Everything Will Fail
Lesson of the day for engineers. Whatever large system you design, some component of it will fail one day. It’s a valuable exercise to draw a diagram of every system, machine, load balancer, DNS servers and start drawing a big X on each component and ask yourself what happens when that component fails. 1) What…
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Seeing Yahoo! From 10,000 Foot
(photo is from Barcelona) As an early engineer in the ‘trenches’ I saw Yahoo! from a 5 foot angle. I focused on what I needed to do immediately to keep the site running. As a 7 year veteran, I see things from 50 foot. I see the business, I try to see and understand the…
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your worst critic?
My worst critic is myself. It’s my way of pushing myself. Today during a Y! News meeting, I was knocking something on Y! News, then my co-worker Chris stepped in and said some words of encouragement. “Look at what sort of data we are delivering, in a consistent, fast and dynamic way to our users.…
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Time With Mom
Weekend with mom was very fun, my mom just turned 65 this year. Pick her up from SF and drove to Oakland to have a facial together. Had a very nice nap. Mom: “my friends would like to go to Europe next year.. pause” Me: “Do you guys enjoy tour packages?” Mom: “No we hate…
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live sea urchin, one of the best food in the world
Please take the poll at the bottom: I’m not a health nut, I pretty much eat anything. But I also have a appreciation for really exotic foods. My brother in-law is Tony multiply by 4. He often goes on fishing trips to catch hamachi and cuts it open for sashimi on the boat. Recently he…
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Blind Spots
We have blind spots on our pupils. Our brain fills in the missing image the best way it can given what’s around the blind spot. I’ve pride myself as being able to criticize myself. I’m self-center, often not sensitive, sloppy, workaholic, not patient. I also realize even though I beat myself up enough, there are…
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Y! Superstar J.B.
Yahoo has a superstar award every year. My manager won it this year… Here is why he deserves it. 1) always positive 2) never blames, never talk down 3) this year: bulit lots and lots of products Y! Tech, Sprint tool, 2005 Y! News redesign, part of many infrastruture product teams 4) embodies Y! Spirit:…
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Context Switching
It’s a term I first learned 15 years ago in my computer OS class. Multitasking operating systems execute different programs ‘in parallel’ by giving each a little bit of time to execute. Because the CPU was fast enough, it appeared that every program was running at the same time. Now back to real work and…
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I Should Have 10 More Kate’s
I dropped off Kate at school and her teacher came up and we chatted a bit. She was telling me that Kate is expressing herself well in French and she wanted to find out how ‘deep’ Kate’s vocabulary was. Since I don’t know French, I couldn’t tell her 🙂 But I’m sure it’s good enough.…
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Positano, Italy : Heaven On Earth
Positano and the Amalfi Coast, it’s an amazing place. Carved out of the mountain side these houses look over the most beautiful waters in Europe. On your next visit to Italy, stop over
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Favorite Food: Quail
Someone said to me today that her best meal she ever had was when she was in France, when she was 13. I couldn’t come up with one.. But I do have meals I would have over and over again given a few days break. Today I’m at Esperpento, eating my favorite meal. Quail with…
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Sorry, We Don’t Share Our Food
Self centered thought of the day. It’s dinner time at a nice restaurant: my dinner partner asks if we can share food. I cringe and say: ‘a little bit’ but deep down I don’t want to. I don’t ask others to try theirs, don’t ask to try mine. Selfish and childish perhaps, but wouldn’t you…
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Cooking Pasta For 3 Straight Days
Am in Paris trying to save money by eating out during Lunch and cooking for dinner. Cooking pasta should be the easiest thing. I’m trying to replicate the flavors in Italy. For the next 3 days I plan to cook exactly the same thing in order to perfect this simple recipe. Ingredience: a) fresh…
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Barcelona Has The Crazy Food
I was in Barcelona for 4 days and finally am back at the mothership in Paris. If you thought SF was pretty crazy about food, Barcelona kicks everyone’s butt when it comes to food (even NY). The people here love to eat and it shows. There are restaurants that are named ‘White’, places that have…
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We Are All Just Human
I’ve been late getting on the Battlestar Galactica bandwagen. Awsome shows btw, downloaded via iTunes. I’ve come to accept the fact that humans make mistakes and it has helped me several times during this trip in Europe. 1) I wanted a ticket from Paris to Nice and this man said they are fully booked. I…
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French Press Coffee
Following these simple instructions makes a much better cup of french press coffee http://bccy.blogspot.com/2003/11/life-with-cafetire.html 1. the right amount of coffee, 2. the right water temperature, 3. stirred correctly, 4. steeped for the right amount of time, 5. and poured the coffee into a thermos away from the used grounds after pressing.
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Wheel of Life
Think of a wheel with 5 spokes, 6 pieces of arc (tire). Imagine on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the arc closest to the center of the wheel and 5 being the outermost ar. Now answer the following questionç How satisfied are you with the following on a scale of 1-5.…
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Being Average Tony
If you ask 100 people if they were average overall, most would say they are above average. We all think we are the most unique person in the world and rightfully so. but if we are so unique, why are we going to the same music concert as 20,000 others, why are we all watching…
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Hiatus in Tuscany
Taking a 2 week trip in Tuscany this week, a few ramblings. 1) Cappuccino is first in the world here in Italy, sweet necter of espresso with the right amount of milk makes a smooth drink that none can rival. There is no pretentious baristas, they just plain know to do it right. 2) Straight…
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Mission Accomplished, Paris I’m Back!
Mission accomplished: 1) kate and I survived Paris and she was happy and content to have been with me for 2 1/2 weeks. Her mom said she has been very sweet. For all dads out there, leaving your 5 year old for 2 months, leaves them missing you a lot. 2) My house in Castro…
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Keeping entertained during a flight
The flight back from Paris with Kate was very pleasant and we both looked forward to the end of the 2 week vacation. We came up with a few games to keep us entertained. The most fun one was a made up game of ask the 8-ball I wrote up 3 pieces of paper with…
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quirkyalone
It’s raining here in Paris so Kate and I decided to stay inside. I started randomly surfing the net and found some really cool articles. search for memento lead to some site to track memory which lead to a interesting article about quirkyalone and the official site http://quirkyalone.net/qa/ Quirkyalone: noun/adj. A person who enjoys being…
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Kate Asleep On Paris Metro Line
Kate Asleep On Paris Metro Line #1 Nice break for me!
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Paris: Le Boulanger de Monge
kate loves crepes, almost every weekend she helps me make them and we talk about lumps <br> <br> http://www.youtube.com/v/avZdr8UxMA4
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video: kate no lumps in my crepes
Kate loves crepes, almost every weekend she helps me make them and we talk about lumps <br> <br> http://www.youtube.com/v/avZdr8UxMA4
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Japanese does French pastries
This shop so far has the best French pastries and best coffee I’ve had in Paris and it’s created by a Japanese chef http://www.sadaharuaoki.com/ My favorite is all the pastries filled with mocha powder giving it a nice Japanese flavor to the classic French pastries. The photo above is macha flavored madelline
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single dad traveling with a kid in Paris
Eiffel Tower, Seine River, Louvre Museum: from 5 year old’s perpective, she can care less. Where’s the ice cream place, crepes? tired of walking, not the metro again, are we there yet? Kate is a pretty good traveler, but thinking from her perspective, I can understand. My days with her here in Paris is not…
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Warning
warning Dad! Apparently Kate has learned the meaning of warning from one of the poems in Where the Sidewalk Ends. Then she saw the warning signs about not putting your fingers between the doors in the Paris metro. The entire week, I’m getting warning drawings as I deny her a 2nd helping of ice cream. …
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video: books in kate’s life
Another video I edited here in Paris http://www.youtube.com/v/4zQvCjuxmAE
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The Good And The So So
Kate arrived yesterday, her mom brought her over to Paris while traveling towards eastern Europe. Kate was excited as was I to be reunited after a month. The good. We spent the day visiting a few food places around Rue Lepic, and I was introducing Kate to the vendors. The good The vendor selling tarts…
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Steady Biking From Nice To Monaco
Slow and steady, just concentrate, I’m sweating like a dog, have not needed to pee in 8 hours, all my liquids are sweated out. There is 10 more miles to go before I hit Monaco. I cursed every downhill because I have to bike up the same hill again in reverse. I reveled in the…
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Video: Kate Dancing In A Parade
Kate is coming to visit me for 2 weeks in Paris. This will be her 3rd time in Paris, hopefully we’ll get to chill and soak up summertime in Paris my silly Kate last summer dancing to a her own parade. I’m actually getting a bit nervous, I haven’t seen her for 6 weeks now.…
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True Freedom Of Travel
Having a bike always with me in Europe has totally changed the way I travel. I used to think I can just run anywhere since I like slow jogging, but can’t really do that when I’ve got a 20 lbs bag with me. This is my current thoughts on travel by bike I don’t take…
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PHP Coding While Thinking Of Food
I was writing some PHP code while a co-worker from Florida was chatting with me about Munich and how perfect of a city it was. I was intending to write function addTopicSet() But I ended up typing function addGoodSeafood() Damn Lucas
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focus, execute, kick ass
When I was interviewing new engineers for Yahoo! News back in late 2004. I told them that they will part of a team that can make a difference. The team is small enough and our site audience is large enough (25 million) that they can contribute as much as they have the time and energy…
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Tonight’s Munich Gamble: Ended In Disaster
After a very fillilng meal of traditional German food of fatty pork and dumplings for lunch, I’m up for some sushi. It’s 9:58 and I’m trying to find some good food here in Munich, a search for ‘munich late night dining’ found me this CNN article http://www.cnn.com/FOOD/restaurants/weissmann/world/munich.html#ASIAN Tonight’s gamble: Sho-ya-Sushi—Though the city offers a bounty…
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People On Euro Train To Munich
I arrived at the train station on the Brompton (flickr photos) 10 minutes before the train took off. The conductor looked at my bike and said I needed a reservation for it. I folded it up in 30 secs and he said I didn’t need reservations. Today’s sleeper is a 4 bed and oddly they…
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Travel By Bike In Europe: Essential Gear Check List
As I get ready to leave for Munich for a short one week trip, I’m 2 hours away from the train leaving and as I get ready to pack I thought I write down the list of things so I remember to bring them. Might as well share it here, why not, it helps me…
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Mid-life Crisis Coming Early
So the common theory goes that there are basic humans needs like food and shelter and once you fulfill these needs then there is love, follow by spiritual needs and I don’t remember what other higher callings there are. For my parents’ generation they struggled for 40-50 years for basic survival and the focus is…
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Travel By Train Or Plane
After reading http://seat61.com/ and watching the movie Before Sunrise, I had a very romantic notion of traveling by train. My first trip on the Eurorail from Paris to Copenhagen took me 15 hours and tor·tur·ous moments where I’m telling myself to get some sleep or I’ll be hallucinating in the bike train. Hmm, I still…
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Poison In My Body
My body is boiling, poison has seeped through ever since yesterday. poison that I thought were long gone. How does one purge this? With the power of positive thinking? With denial? With counting ones blessing? No, with work, being consumed with what I love. No, with running, doing what I love. No, with music, listening…
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Parisians are just like Americans
Well I could safely say that I understand Parisian life a little bit more after running through to 140 metro stations, getting a hair cut, buying food at the local markets, going to shop at their farmer’s open air markets, biking around town on my bike for 30 days. Here is the recap and sorry…
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Coffee Obsessed In Copenhagen
The photo is of Reg Barber tampers I saw in Risterit in Denmark.. ooooo.. soo cool. I’ve been hearing about these babies on coffeegeek all week. Ok, I’ve been obssessed with coffee lately. Listening to coffeegeek and http://www.portafilter.net podcasts talking about professional baristas, bean roasting, barista competitions. The 2006 barista champion actually works in Copenhagen.…
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Dreaming Away On Eurorail
This weekend I was planning to head over to Barcelona for some bike riding and tapas, but of course the train was fill. Then I asked the ticket person Madid? No. Lisbon? No. uhh, Denmark? where? What’s the capital of Denmark? Copenhagen? OK, I’m going to Copenhagen then. So, my Brompton and I are on…
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Falling For ka-plooyeee
another favorite pass time.. falling into a bed of soft pillows.. it’s ka-ploooyee time! Set to the music of Cecilia Bartoli http://www.youtube.com/v/0SjtVVCfcbQ
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Finally, Good Coffee In Paris
I been having a hard time finding Italian quality coffee in Paris. Most places that serve coffee in Paris serve very mediocure cafe creme and cappucino. While in Paris, I’ve been listening to the http://coffeegeek.com/ podcast and making myself long for a good cup of capuccino. Until one day I stumbled on urbietorbi le bar…
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Run The Paris Metro #8: town of Malakoff
Run The Paris Metro #8: 5.97 miles, 10 down 232 to go. The photo is of ligne roset, super high end ultra modern design. They have a store in SOMA SF. I just finished running Metro line #13 which bought me to the outskirts of Paris to the town of Malakoff Getting to see the…
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Run The Paris Metro #8: 5.94 miles, 10 stations, 232 to go
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Run The Paris Metro #7: 10 miles, 9 stations, 242 more to go
This run is the first run I’m trying to finish off one end of one of the metro lines. I knew that it would take me to the suburbs of Paris. This is Paris metro line #13 Saint-Denis – Université. Running the Paris metro is the only way where you will get to see every…
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Meeting new friends in Paris
I’ve been eating really late (like 11:30pm) here and I sometimes like to just step outside and pick up some take out from this Chinese place right downstairs. A few days ago, the owner of the place was speaking Madarin then I also starting speaking to them in Mandarin. The husband and wife both came…
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Travel with StyleCity guides to see the chic and modern
I love the cosmopolitain cities like Paris, SF, NY, Tokyo, HK, Taiwan and whenever I can, I buy this series of books call the StyleCity guides. These books recommend places to live, eat and shop but with a focus on style and chic. Today I used the guide StyleCity Paris First Pierre Hermé, apparently, he…
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video: kate singing coccinelle
Kate is a very lucky girl indee in her exposure to different languages, especially in a country like the US where we are very mono-language focused. It’s rare for a child to grow up being able to speak another language like a native She grew up with Chinese-mandarin as her first language because we didn’t…
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Video: Kate 2005: water tension experiment
I’m beginning to seriously miss Kate, so I’m revisiting her videos on my little 17″ powerbook. Everyone loves the San Francisco Exploratorium. There are hundreds of science experiments here. Kate’s favorite the first time she was there is this “water surface tension” experiment. You try to make as much water stay on top and not…
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Video: Kate: why I don’t want to play with this boy?
Ok, I’m easily amused by my daughter. But when we speak Chinese, it’s even funnier (at least to me). One day I asked her why she won’t play with this boy at school, here is our conversation while she was making crepes [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWTe7cz8zZs] highlight here to the end for the transcript: Kate: Because his voice…
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Running down the Parisian kids
I saw this really neat parc in Paris and these kids were just runing around in circles while I myself was running the Paris Metro! Neato so I decided to run them down 3 times over and and over. Run The Paris Metro: Chasing kids [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQ8humxpro]
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Run The Paris Metro #7: 10 miles, 9 stations, 242 to go
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonytam/sets/72157594174206083/with/172807127/
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Run The Paris Metro #6: 8.01 miles: 10 stations: 251 to go
Today’s run was a bit shorter, 10 down, 8.01 miles and only 251 stations to go No tagzania map today, maybe I’ll update later. Check out the pics of the Paris city life. Run #5: 13.87 miles june 13th Run #4: 12.58 miles june 10th Run #3: 12.85 miles june 8th Run #2: 10.56 miles…
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Run The Paris Metro #6: 8.01 miles: 10 stations: 251 to go
Today’s run was a bit shorter, 10 down, 8.01 miles and only 251 stations to go No tagzania map today, maybe I’ll update later. Check out the pics of the Paris city life.
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Best morning in Paris…
.. is when it’s raining outside, my apartment is filled with bright day light at 6:00am. I open up the windows and smell clean air and hear the shops getting ready to open up. I walk 5 minutes to pick up the best pain au chocolate and bring them home to eat with coffee. So…
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Run The Paris Metro #5: 18 stations, 13.87 miles, 261 to go
Finally made it to 13.3 miles today. I’m getting slightly tired with only 4-5 hours of sleep and this running, but I promised myself to sleep a bit more. Today’s run covered 18 stations for 13.87 miles . Highlights were the 2 farmers markets that ‘forced’ me to stop and eat some fruits Run #4:…
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Does Parenthood Make You Happy?
I’ve been listening to an audio book, Stumbling on Happiness The author Daniel Gilbert is really funny and convincing in the thoroughness of his research. He believes that humans are the only animals who can think about the future and have an imagination. I still do not know the secret to happiness, but after listening…
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Run The Paris Metro #4: 24 stations 12.58 miles 279 stations to go
Why is it that I have not hit the 13.3 mile mark for a 1/2 marathon? Somewhere I must have a mind block. Today’s destination was a rovering market (Marché Volantes) near metro Ségur. But I didn’t write down exactly where and I missed it. Today’s run covered 24 stations for 12.58 miles and was…
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Runner’s High And Rnner’s Gear
This trip in Paris brought back my initial runner’s high and the reason why I started running after many years of hating running. Some lessons learned, and I hope I remember this when I get back in the states don’t run too fast, pace and I can run a long distance running is about endurance…
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Plat Du Jour
When dining in the U.S, I have the misconception that whatever the special of the day is something that the restaurant is trying to give rid of. Here in Paris, the ‘eating’ books recommend that I always order the plat du jour because it’s almost made from what’s fresh at the market. So I ventured…
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Run The Paris Metro #3: 12.85 miles, 303 more stations to go
This morning was glorious in Paris, I have my standard running gear and a small map and off I went. First fueled up with 2 pain au chocolate. Today’s run hook me on a long trip to 26 metro stations. I decided to run a bit slower since this is almost my 3rd 1/2 marathon…
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au nom de la rose
I think au num de la rose is a franchise store, but their presentation is really unique. With rose petals all over the front of the store and every store painted this nice mellow green. I just can’t help myself taking photos with the woman inside looking at my kinda funny
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Run The Paris Metro #3: 12.85 miles, 303 more stations to go
This morning was glorious in Paris, I have my standard running gear and a small map and off I went. First fueled up with 2 pain au chocolate. Today’s run hook me on a long trip to 26 metro stations. I decided to run a bit slower since this is almost my 3rd 1/2 marathon…
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Run The Paris Metro #4: 24 stations 12.58 miles 279 stations to go
Why is it that I have not hit the 13.3 mile mark for a 1/2 marathon? Somewhere I must have a mind block. Today’s destination was a rovering market (Marché Volantes) near metro Ségur. But I didn’t write down exactly where and I missed it. Today’s run covered 24 stations for 12.58 miles and was…
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Run The Paris Metro: #2 – 10.56 miles
Running to the metro stations in Paris is getting me to run more that I’ve ever done in my life. Every other day I’m running around 10 miles. That’s almost a half-marathon. I stop to take photos, consume some wonderful food, coffee and run at a pace faster than I would run a half. Today’s…
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Run the Paris Metro: Day 1: 23 stations
My plan is to run to every metro station in the Paris subway system. I have no idea how many stations there are in total, let me know if you find out. Here are the 23 stations I covered for a nice 10 mile run on Sunday. Photos of the 23 metro stations and the…
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Traveling by bike in Europe
My current vacation to Paris is the 6th time for me, but this trip will be different in length as well as how I plan to explore the city. First, my Brompton bike will be with me all the time and I plan to run and bike everywhere in Paris. My first test was when…
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Say Good Bye To Castro Valley House
I’m moving out of the house I bought and lived in for over 12 years. It’s been through 2-3 remodels but until recently it’s been the perfect house for me. Life of course always change and I want and need to live in San Francisco now. So it’s good bye to suburb living and hello…
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SF Hayes Valley Victorians
Just sharing some amazing houses in the Hayes Valley
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Memories
For all the moms and dads out there, really take the time to enjoy the first 5 years of your child’s life. After they start school and learn how to reason with you, the relationship becomes very different. I miss the days when Kate didn’t question anything. I enjoy her current age, but I often…
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75,000 tulips at Filoli Gardens Woodside, CA
Bay Area dwellers, did you know about Filoli Gardens in Woodside, CA? They planted 75,000 bulbs for spring, go there and check out the amazing flowers. It reminds me of a dwarf size Hearst Castle for the house and Monet’s garden in France for the flowers. They are all in full bloom this weekend and…
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Retirement at 50?
Lunch conversation started around retirement and what would we do if we were able to retire right now? The gut reaction I had was obviously stop working.. then on further thought, what would I do with my free time? I still had Kate to take care of, she goes to school, I can’t just pack…
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Easy answer to : What’s for dinner?
It’s been the same answer for the past few weeks. She wants fresh pasta, she helps make it. Gather the ingredient, stir in water, break the eggs, measure the flour, mix, help roll the dough, cut into fettuccine or pappardelle, cook the pasta, wash the basil, mix with olive oil, add salt. I’m just the…
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Poll: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
I’m mostly referring to obsessiveness about cleaning your house. I know I am obsessive since I was really antsy all day, the moment Kate went down for bed at 8:00pm I started cleaning until 1:00am. Putting all her toys away, doing 3 loads of laundry, wiping along all the edges of the floor moldings, scrubbing…
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A YAHOO
Finally made it to DMV after 4 months and picked up my identity. Now I can be at peace.
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Yes Kate, No Dad
Kate got mad at me for some reason and went back to her table to write me a warning note. She first said I was in trouble 🙁 “From Kate For Tony” “Yes Kate, No Dad” “I am getting mad at you”
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Am I Chinese or American?
A little background: I immigrated to the US when I was 10 years old from mainland China. I spent 2 years living in Chinatown where I was in a ESL program and struggled for a long time with English and obviously everything else that required English. I think it wasn’t until 7th grade before I…
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Kate’s Fifth Birthday Party: 23 kids
For Kate’s Fifth Birthday Party At http://mocha.org/ We had 23 kids, probably 18 parents packed into a 2 hour birthday party for Kate. I got up at 6:30am to cut up 3 cantelopes, 2 melons, 1 4lb papaya, 10 apples, 6 pears, 8 bell peppers. The dish I’m most proud of is this big bowl…
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Love from Kate
Kate: Do you know who I love the most? Tony: Mom? K: nope T: Me? K: nope T: Gandmom? Grandpa? Auntie Liana? Your best friend Olivia? You sister Lauren? K: nope, nope. I love all my family the same. This way no one would feel sad. It’s Kate’s 5th birthday this week., how she has…
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Goodbye Dave Viner and thanks!
Dave Viner is leaving Yahoo! tomorrow and we briefly chatted in the hallway. I told him that he fought a long and uphill battle to make the engineering team better in Yahoo!’s Media Engineering group. I admire him for staying course and never giving up. Here is what I remember about Dave He was always…
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How To Talk About Death To Your Children (2006)
Cate has been watching Cinderella and other Disney movies which mention the subject of death of a family member. So she has been mentioning that subject to me. Does everyone die? Kids who are 5 years old don’t die for a long long time right? What does it mean to die? Dad, when are you…
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Tear Jerker Japanese TV Show: Story Of Ah Xing
阿 信的故事 This is a story of a young girl in Eastern Japan during the years of WWII. Her family were poverished farmers who could not farm enough to feed their children. Both sister were ‘sold’ to others in order to send money back. She was eventually sold for one year as an indenture servant…
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Ultimate Brompton Folding Bike
This Friday my new Brompton folding bike arrived from the UK via a NY dealer. Here are the specs 6 speeds 21 lbs foldable in 10 secs bright yellow headlight, custom fit pump, marathon tires, mirror, custom attached bag I took it for a ride in Golden Gate park against a road bike and I…
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What Makes A Great Engineering Team
The best team I ever worked in was the Electronic Services Group in SGI from 1995 to 1999. We built X11 Motif tools installed on every IRIX OS machine to search and apply patches automatically, log support calls over the internet, get hardware configurations and send back registration information. The tools were build on ontop…