I used to do new year's resolutions, and then I went through a phase of hating the entire concept. Now I'm back to the other end of the horseshoe: yes, it's arbitrary. Who cares? It's a nice time to take a breather, reflect, and then do some planning. Happy new year!
This year has got me thinking about formats. Between writing posts for my employers (sorry if you see my constant LinkedIn-posting), and my newer topic-based blog Digital Seams, I've probably written more this year than any other (including when I was in school). I also did stuff in other formats, like stepping out of my comfort zone to make a terrible short-form video (how's that for "The medium…
I recently read Where'd You Go, Bernadette , by Maria Semple (strongly recommend, by the way), and came across this gem about "contractor Kabuki": ...it dawned on me that Ellen Idelson was a contractor. She was performing contractor Kabuki. It's a ritual in which (a) the contractor explains in great detail the impossibility of the job you've done, (b) you demonstrate extreme remorse for even…
Here's a quick video on why you should buy a meat slicer, the must-have kitchen tool! Did I convince you? Let me know. And shoot me a message if you ever want to eat hot pot in San Francisco! Ask me about the infinite broth. Some other notes: Mentioned in the video: Little City Market is an excellent butcher shop. I use this meat slicer from Befen . Below a certain length (around 1 cm or shorter),…
I recently hit five years of blogging here! My first post was back in August 2019 , a rewriting of an old college admissions essay just to get started. Since then, many of my posts achieved minor virality, resulting in hundreds of thousands of views and a longer tail of links: What happens to your online accounts when you die? (from Digital Seams) Being on-call sucks Some interesting malware I…
Earlier this week, I launched a new blog titled Digital Seams , which covers topics like APIs, platforms, UX, and interaction design, plus the related human connections. I hope you check it out! I'm writing Digital Seams because I looked at a pile of blog drafts and saw the running theme. Even looking back through my personal blog, I can trace similar ideas when I wrote about business hours for…
This is my sixth annual books round-up, and unfortunately it's also the third consecutive decline in the number of books read. It's been a busy year - Yee Aun and I got married and hosted a few singles mixers (let me know if you want to join a future one!), I got Lasik, we traveled a bit and spent good time with good people, and professional, I grinded with the Anjuna to launch our new product…
Speculation ahead: I do not have any background in economics. In China every year, the supply of cash in circulation (M0) shoots up by ~10% for one month, then drops back down. This seems to be because of Chinese New Year: Traditionally, "red envelope" cash gifts are given to children during Chinese New Year, which would require withdrawing cash. If you look at the interactive version of this…
It's been a while since my last music update, though it's not because I haven't been doing musical things. Since my last update in November , I played with the SF Castaways at DumpsterFest 2023, Henry and Daniel's holiday housewarming, Gloria and Viraj's rooftop, Isabel and Patrick's garden, and Babette for Kim's retirement party; plus the Golden Gate Park Bandshell with Dumpster Love. I saw a…
Personal life update: Yee Aun and I got married! Some rapid info, in case you're wondering: Back in February, on the beach in Santa Monica, in a family-only ceremony. Yes, it feels great. Yes, I do save lots of time by saying "my wife" instead of "my fiancee" (the extra syllables add up when you say them so often). No, not much has changed in married life otherwise. Many people have told us, "Just…
The other day, I noticed our bathroom sink was slow to drain: although the stopper was fully open, standing water was just trickling down. I peek inside the drain and saw some hair sticking out - aha! It's easy enough to dissemble the stopper (with the help of this instructional guide ), and quickly I am rewarded with a surprisingly large wad of soapy hair. Triumphant, I reassemble the stopper and…
I recently wrote White Elephant is surprisingly effective (link) with Yee Aun, and I realized I hadn't mentioned it here yet. It's an exploration of what makes a gift distribution "good", including simulation and visualization of how White Elephant distributes gifts. This project felt like the perfect example of what Basecamp's Shape Up calls "fixed time, variable scope": It’s hard to ship a book…
It's time for my annual books roundup - slightly late, but who's counting? (it's me) In the earliest moments of 2023, my partner Yee Aun and I were hailing a pedicab on the rainy streets of San Diego; as the year ended, we were cozy in bed hours before, having succumbed to sleep. Funny, the contrast. Looking back on this list, Jo Harkin's Tell Me An Ending stands out as my favorite, a story…
The latest and greatest in my life's music: The Castaways added Jason (guitar), Angel (vocals), and Amolak (trumpet) to play a huge party at Alex's, which must have had over 100 people. And I attended two Afterglow Chorus concerts: one as a spectator, and one as a participant. It was great, and also found a couple more jazz musicians within the group. I'm hoping to introduce them to the Castaways…
I once again missed my target date to post this, but it's okay. In the last five months, I played several events with the SF Castaways. Thanks to Alex and Patrick and Isabel for hosting us! Here are some of my favorite photos: I also went with Viraj to a public jam session at Hayes Valley Art Works . It's always simultaneously humbling and inspiring to play with people who are much better than…
Chess puzzles have solutions. This sounds extremely obvious, but it's easy for me to play them as if they don't. I've played chess since I was young, often under fast time controls, and there's a certain mode where you just look at the position and make a plausibly good move within a few seconds. Is it the best move? Maybe, but probably not. Most decisions in a chess game are not critically…
Some personal music updates: last November, our jazz group played one of the hottest venues in the city, Hunter's rooftop. This was an amazing event: a view of the city, food and drinks around the fire, music, and at one point, swing dancing. jazz is beautiful/lovely/wonderful pic.twitter.com/GTKEJc048o — Kevin Chen (@kev_chn) November 20, 2022 One highlight: Patrick briefly fumbled his drumstick…
Some notes on earphones related to the last post : The aforementioned noise-canceling earbuds are Sony WF-1000XM4. They're really good at noise-canceling, obviously, and the ambient sound mode actually amplifies the outside since the isolation is pretty strong on its own. I got mine bundled with my phone (Xperia 5 IV), which you can see also suffers Sony's inability to name products with anything…
I recently got some new noise-canceling earbuds, and they are terrifyingly effective. Although I have thoughts on sound quality, technology, whatever, this post is not about that. It's about how when I walk down the street and tap my left earbud, it only takes seconds to eject me from this world. A polite robot announces, Noise canceling . A light swell of static obscures outside sounds. But as…
Another year, another books roundup. This one is slightly late because I was traveling with Yee Aun at the beginning of the year, so please file any complaints with her. Some changes in reading technology - This year, I got a bookshelf - the Ikea Hemnes, which turned out to be slightly taller than makes sense for my room. I'm still very happy with it. As a consequence, I ended up buying and…