That interests thingy

[cjsmith]

dangerpudding asked me about this handful of my LJ-interests, and I finally got around to writing about them.

(Should I be working? ABSOLUTELY. Well, I'm eating lunch now; let's say this is my lunch break. Should I be doing NaNo instead, then? ABSOLUTELY. Oh well.)

Amr Diab: Egyptian singer. I first heard of him while sitting in an airport by Abu Simbel. My travel companion and I both enjoyed the music that was playing in one guy's little stall by the waiting area, and I shelled out for the CD. After our return home, I was bemused to find I could buy this thing on Amazon -- I had no idea at the time how popular this dude was -- so I bought my friend a copy of the album, as a memento of the trip.

Financial independence: As defined by the book Your Money Or Your Life, this is the point where (I'm going to paraphrase) one's passive income, from investments for example, meets or exceeds one's expenditures. The concepts in this book really changed how I think about money. What do you really make per hour? Is this album, that latte, this cute skirt, or that spa trip worth that many hours of my life? I would love to reach financial independence some day. That's not likely without radical changes. I plan to make radical changes.

Mary Chung's: One of my favorite restaurants of all time, a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts. To this day it is run by Mary Chung herself. When I was at MIT, "Mary's" was on Massachusetts Avenue just a bit north of campus. Student groups would pile into the small dining room, stumbling blindly because everybody's glasses had just fogged up, and order vast quantities of "ravs" (Peking pan-fried dumplings for you West Coasters), "suan" (Suan La Chow Show, the spiciest soup I've ever had), and entrees such as "mouth peel beef" (orange peel beef). We had a whole protocol for holding up fingers (or partial fingers) to order ravs. Good food. Good memories.

mywaves: A small but growing startup feeding video to cellphones. I work here. I write what goes on the phones -- well, only half of it now, since we hired someone to work with me!

N47490: The first (and so far only) plane I ever owned. Shortly after my first solo flight, a group of three of us signed the papers for purchase of this 1978 Piper Warrior (PA-28-161) located in Minnesota. Rick, the licensed pilot of the bunch, bought a one-way ticket out there to get it. It was a sweet little trainer that flew well for its type. The rest of my primary flight training occurred in this plane, including my checkride, and I took it to Colorado for a family reunion once. It was only when both of the guys wanted to move up to more expensive stuff that we sold this one. It lives in Oregon now.

Pitts: One of the most fun and still accessible aerobatic aircraft types flying today. I have about fifty hours logged in Pitts S2Bs, and back at the top of the stock market bubble of the turn of the millenium I actually test-flew an S2C with an eye to purchasing one. (Then the bubble burst and I got a Pitts embroidered polo shirt instead.)

SIPB: An MIT student group where I was very active for nearly four years. We answered questions about anything from Apple desktops to Cray supercomputers. I tend to describe it as "where people who are too geeky for the rest of MIT can hang out", and when I was there, that probably wasn't far from the truth. I met rfrench there, as well as several of the people currently on my LJ-friendslist. Guess what the group's favorite restaurant was.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I met rfrench there . . . which really says everything. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It really does, doesn't it? He was president; I was treasurer. Much of our early courtship occurred over Zephyr, a sort of precursor to IM... while we were in the same room.

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

You're such a geek.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHA LOOK WHO'S TALKING.

...

...okay, yeah, I am. :-)

[redgrrl.livejournal.com]

That is the SWEETEST exchange on LJ EVAH! :)

[cme]

Oh my god, that is too funny for words. :)

[lizzie-omalley.livejournal.com]

When were you at MIT. I used to square dance there in the late 70's/early 80's. It was the only club in that area that I knew of where the men outnumbered the women and a single girl was not considered a threat to some other single girls marital prospects. It was a really good club with some awesome dancers.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Fall of 1985 through spring of 1989. Sadly, I didn't learn to square dance until I moved out here to California! Tech Squares is a great club and I wish now that I'd joined them when I was there.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

My sister used to swing dance with her gay boss in San Francisco for similar reasons. He had a boyfriend who wasn't as into dancing (though they sometimes went all three together), and was happy to have a dance partner, she was happy to be somewhere that she wasn't a threat. On the other hand, she was likely less of a "fresh meat" target there than she would have been at MIT.

[lizzie-omalley.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, I never had the feeling of being "fresh meat" at MIT. Sadly, I didn't have the good sense to keep track of any of the guys that I met there. Everyone who danced there, including some non-MIT men, were cool to hang with.

[zarex.livejournal.com]

Ah, Mary Chung's. Many geek gatherings were held there. Good stuff.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And I've never found anywhere else to get suan. I wish I were the kind of person who could guess my way to a recipe.

[eichin.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure John Pitrelli successfully reverse engineered it; I haven't been in touch at all in ages, but he's on linkedin at least...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

OOOOOOOO PANT DROOL SWOON.

(I bet Pitrelli would laugh his ass off to hear me saying that.)

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

"where people who are too geeky for the rest of MIT can hang out"

that's pretty hot :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Worked for us. :)

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

:D

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Now we need a place where people who are too geeky for the rest of the Bay Area can hang out. I have a hot tub.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

i'm so there :)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

*next in line*

(Oh wait. It holds more than one person.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Joe might even fit. And Clare. And Lisa.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

And Casey, I would hope, because I am a geeky hedonist as well as a pervy geek-fancier -- and a pervy-geek fancier. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The tub's going to be full in about one or two more comments. :-)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I sit on laps. ;)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

With that crowd in there, I just might, too! :-)

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

hope springs eternal :)

[ckd]

Funny story:

When Mary lost her space on the north (logical east) side of Mass Ave due to the Bioran expansion, there was a long long hiatus during which we had to survive our suan cravings by going to Royal East. (Which isn't exactly a bad choice, but it's a second choice IMO. Others may disagree; they're just wrong.)

She eventually reopened almost exactly across Mass Ave from the old place; the reopening was in January 1995...during the annual USENIX technical conference, which that year was in New Orleans.

Upon my return from NOLA, I naturally had to go out (despite the crappy weather) and go to Mary's. When I arrived, it was quite busy (having been open for only a couple of days) and I saw many familiar faces around..."hey, I haven't seen you since yesterday in New Orleans!"

Yes, what seemed like the entire Boston contingent of USENIX attendees had had the same idea.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Which isn't exactly a bad choice, but it's a second choice IMO. Others may disagree; they're just wrong.

I agree wholeheartedly, as it happens. :-)

Yes, what seemed like the entire Boston contingent of USENIX attendees had had the same idea.

Hah! Perfect.

[jtidwell.livejournal.com]

Funnier story:

The day she reopened, Rich and I went. (Like CJ and Rob, Rich and I also met at SIPB and courted via Zephyr. Geeks? Oh yes.) I ordered suan la chow show with great anticipation. And yet... it was downright mild! Where was the hotness I remembered so fondly? What was wrong? Was Mary's a shadow of its former self?

We went back two days later (long story as to why). I ordered suan again, and this time I asked for extra hot pepper. Well, I tried to eat it, and it absolutely set my mouth on fire -- it took me the entire rest of the meal to get through it, eating it one tiny bite at a time. I asked Mary about it as we were leaving. "Oh," she said, "we had a problem with the peppers on that first day. But now everything should be hot enough. Was it hot enough for you?"

Hot enough? Oh yes.

[dieppe.livejournal.com]

I first did my flight training in a Piper Warrior... and after I got my license bought a 1/4 share in a PA-28-140. I think it was a 1972 model. (Have to look at my log book to make sure. Oh wait.. Here (http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?verified=1&NNumbertxt=5011T) it is. Like I could forget the N-number of my first plane that, uh, wasn't owned by the flight school. :)

"N5011-Tango, departing runway 32..." Er, etc. *sniff* I miss flying..

So... NaNo again, huh?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I miss my little Four Niner Zero. *sigh*

NaNo again. It's time to make sure my filter for that is up to date.

[composerjk.livejournal.com]

Oh right, we overlapped in Boston. I know/knew a number of SIPB folk, of course.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! The world gets just a touch smaller. I love when that happens.

Mary Chung's

[ambar.livejournal.com]

The scariest thing about the ordering protocol is that it's still in use.

I did WHAT?

Re: Mary Chung's

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's a good protocol. It's simple to explain and it works.

[ken_r]

Mmmm, ravs.

Went tonight, didn't get ravs though. Maybe tomorrow night.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ravs, scallion pancakes, suan... the appetizers are the bestest at Mary's.

[jtidwell.livejournal.com]

Hey Ken, you owe us some Mary's takeout, don't you? ;-)

(Now that I can theoretically eat soy again, it's time for Mary's! Whee!)