Little Monster Likes Adele Too

Though I rarely listened to pop music, somehow I discovered the Brit singer Adele a couple of days ago and was really impressed. (She was only 21, but she sang like an old soul.) So I did something I almost never did, I bought her MP3 album online and recommended her to friends. Today I found that even Lady Gaga is a fan. (See http://blog.music.aol.com/2011/03/02/lady-gaga-loves-adele/) What a coincident! Does that explain why I am a little monster?

P.S. Also found this video on Youtube. It's interesting to see the "young" Adele: http://youtu.be/nL49yZNE4yk

More on Sheryl Sandberg

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_21/b4229050473695.htm

I was accompanying Chinchih on her hair cut and read this Business Week article in the salon. (After devouring People and other gossip magazines.) Very impressive.

How to walk your indoor cats

I was in Book Inc, doing my Saturday morning bookstore routine and noticed a baby stroller nearby, some meow-like sound coming from it. "Wow, that baby certainly sounds like a cat", I thought to myself. But the baby just sounded too much like a cat, so I took a look. No, it's not a baby inside a stroller, but two cats. One of them definitely wanted to go home.


I chatted with the owner for a while and got her approval to take a few snaps. (The cats were inside the mesh so the picture was not very clear. Both cats are long-hair and have cow-like patterns.) She told me they were indoor cats and were not used to go out, so she developed this technique. Well, that certainly gives me some idea about taking Mitty out. Next time if you see me with a baby stroller. Don't be too surprised.

View of my current working place

Kate Royal Concert Cancelled

Just got the notice that tomorrow's Kate Royal concerto in San Francisco is cancelled due to health reason. I did a bit googling and found out that not only Ms Royal was married, she had a son in 2009. How time flies!

P.S. now I can't go to Kate Royal concert. I can only listen to our in-house Cat Royal (Mitty) sing.

Waiting for Amazon Tablets

A couple of weeks ago, I received a "hand written" thank-you note from Amazon.com. When I saw the note is really hand written, my first thought was "Gee, I must have spent a fortune there". (My second thought was, they must learn this trick from Zappos.) Then I did a quick search and realized that over the years I had bought more than 1000 books from them (not including eBooks). That's enough to buy a small car. I am indeed a loyal customer!

Being the loyal customer, I heard Amazon will have two tablets (code name "Coyote" and "Hollywood") out late this year and decided to wait for it (since I couldn't find any Android tablet I liked anyway). Rumor has it that it may be a "kindle for movies". All the better. I also hope it will have better magazine support (it pains me to see how those iPad users can read National Geographics in its full glory while there is only "one" photo per article in the kindle android version). Anyway, it will be interesting to see what Santa Bezos brings us this Christmas.    

An Inspiring Talk for Women Leaders

No wonder the CEO of Facebook was impressed with Sheryl Sandberg and created the COO position for her. She's really a good communicator!

New Movie - The Skin I Live In

Every new Almovador movie is a literary event. Can hardly wait to see this one.

P.S. a few more minutes with my Bamboo pen and now I am getting better. 

Playing with my Wacom Pen Tablet

I bought a Wacom Bamboo Pen tablet to help on drawings. It is fun but still needs some get-used-to. (I haven't fully learned the pen feel so there are a lot of hit-or-miss at clicking those small buttons.) But I like how it feels to draw with a pen (instead of using a mouse or your finger, which feels primitive). I will see how it goes with my photo editing. It will be really fun if I can draw manga with it (my childhood dream).
With this setting I am using the track-pad with my left hand and use the pen tablet with my right hand. I found it greatly improved the usage of my left hand.

Things to Try - Pomorodo Technique

I heard about the Pomodoro technique two years ago (when I just joined my previous startup and the schedule was quite crazy) and tried it a few times. I liked it, but I also found that without a real timer it was hard to keep track of things. Fortunately I now find there is an excellent Mac app ($4.99 only, free if you download and build from the source) for it so I am eager to give it a try again. It will also be interesting to see how well it works with the Scrum process. I wonder that after using it whether I will be able to estimate tasks more accurately.

Setting up Windows laptop

Finally configured Windows 7 on my work laptop to look like my mac(with all those cluttering shortcuts hidden). I even bought the Microsoft Arc keyboard (which is small and looks like a mac keyboard). In fact, I have to say I like the windows 7 setting better, though the DELL laptop looks just too bulky and ugly compared to the sleek mac power book.

P.S. all the mouses I tried on mac (including the nothing magic Apple magic mouse) were not responding as smooth as on Windows. Is there a thing between Mac and mouse? Or should I use their track pad (that's yet another spending).

Mapplethrope Exhibition in San Jose

Robert Mapplethrope had always been a photographer I greatly admired. His portrait of Patti Smith (for the cover of her album "horses") is such a revelation, showing me something so simple can be so emotional powerful (just like his flower work). I had been reading Smith's memoir "Just Kids" lately. Finding out this exhibition is like a God-send.

P.S. also highly recommend Patti Smith's "Just Kids".

Scarier than Crying Babies (or not)

My friend Chinchih forwarded me this video. All I can say is now I know hungry kittens are scarier than crying babies and Mitty is really well behaved when she is hungry.

P.S. Revised my comment, I went to Frys and in front of the check out line was a crying baby. Now I think hungry kittens are way way better.