Yep, still here
It's been a year since I last posted... whoa. Lots of stuff has happened, which probably should go under a cut!
I went to Peoria, Chicago and St. Louis last year on my way to the Old-Time Piano Championship. It was a great experience listening to all the musicians and I had a lot of fun! Never mind that I placed last due to going way over time and being extremely nervous. :P There was a film crew as well, who were filming a documentary, and they interviewed me. Perhaps I might appear in the final version?
I also spent a few hours in Chicago and a day in St. Louis - both were great places and I enjoyed myself there a lot! reannon provided some helpful advice on places to visit in St. Louis, and I went to the Central West End. It's ridiculously easy to spend lots of time there and I had to curtail myself because I didn't want to miss the train back!!
A Flickr album of various photos I took (some with interesting captions) is here. I'll be leaving for Peoria and Chicago again this year - tomorrow, in fact - and it should be just as exciting as last year!
I didn't travel nearly as much as I did in 2008 or 2009, but life in Seattle was quite busy. I went on several dates with people from OKCupid, and dated one of them for a few months. It was an interesting experience and I think I learnt quite a lot from it - definitely things to keep in mind for future relationships.
Work has been really quite busy, with the release of Windows 7 SP1 and other projects still in progress. I've sometimes gotten home around 12 midnight and fed Belle and Lillian, then collapsed in bed. Belle had a minor scare in March when she started losing weight rapidly and developed fatty liver. Fortunately, the vet and I - and other friends who sent their love, light and healing purrs/reiki - were able to reverse it, and she's made a full recovery (and gained a bit too!) She is a lot more agile now and likes climbing up on cat trees.
I recently saw The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, which was a 2-hour monologue about Apple, Steve Jobs and conditions in the Chinese factories that produce the vast majority of consumer electronics. Some of the conditions described are literally unspeakable - 14-hour days, 7 days a week, rooms which have beds stacked to the ceiling with about 10 square feet of space, extremely low pay, lack of basic medical care, among others. I will make another post listing some of the things you can do if you believe that this situation should be changed; it's quite Apple-speciifc, but would likely work with other companies as well. summercomfort, have you seen this? (He started performing in the Bay Area/SF last year and came up to Seattle for a few weeks)
I went to Peoria, Chicago and St. Louis last year on my way to the Old-Time Piano Championship. It was a great experience listening to all the musicians and I had a lot of fun! Never mind that I placed last due to going way over time and being extremely nervous. :P There was a film crew as well, who were filming a documentary, and they interviewed me. Perhaps I might appear in the final version?
I also spent a few hours in Chicago and a day in St. Louis - both were great places and I enjoyed myself there a lot! reannon provided some helpful advice on places to visit in St. Louis, and I went to the Central West End. It's ridiculously easy to spend lots of time there and I had to curtail myself because I didn't want to miss the train back!!
A Flickr album of various photos I took (some with interesting captions) is here. I'll be leaving for Peoria and Chicago again this year - tomorrow, in fact - and it should be just as exciting as last year!
I didn't travel nearly as much as I did in 2008 or 2009, but life in Seattle was quite busy. I went on several dates with people from OKCupid, and dated one of them for a few months. It was an interesting experience and I think I learnt quite a lot from it - definitely things to keep in mind for future relationships.
Work has been really quite busy, with the release of Windows 7 SP1 and other projects still in progress. I've sometimes gotten home around 12 midnight and fed Belle and Lillian, then collapsed in bed. Belle had a minor scare in March when she started losing weight rapidly and developed fatty liver. Fortunately, the vet and I - and other friends who sent their love, light and healing purrs/reiki - were able to reverse it, and she's made a full recovery (and gained a bit too!) She is a lot more agile now and likes climbing up on cat trees.
I recently saw The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, which was a 2-hour monologue about Apple, Steve Jobs and conditions in the Chinese factories that produce the vast majority of consumer electronics. Some of the conditions described are literally unspeakable - 14-hour days, 7 days a week, rooms which have beds stacked to the ceiling with about 10 square feet of space, extremely low pay, lack of basic medical care, among others. I will make another post listing some of the things you can do if you believe that this situation should be changed; it's quite Apple-speciifc, but would likely work with other companies as well. summercomfort, have you seen this? (He started performing in the Bay Area/SF last year and came up to Seattle for a few weeks)