It's been a while since I've posted on this blog. Since I feel like it, here are some disorganized thoughts.

As is being widely reported, Rojo got bought by Six Apart. It seems like SA isn't interested in Rojo as a feed aggregation service, but as a platform. My immediate thought is: It's starting... I need to get FeedMuncher out there NOW!.

It's only a matter of time before someone (else) realizes that feed aggregation today is like email circa 1994, and that we all need standards that can be implemented by open platforms. I created FeedMuncher sort of as a proof of concept, to show that you can have a feed aggregation platform that provides a known set of APIs to interoperate with various clients.

I still personally use FeedMuncher on a daily basis (couldn't live without it), but between a full-time job and a full-time side project (more on that soon), I'm hardly finding enough time to sleep, much less work on another project. Maybe some day...

(As a fun side-note, I visited Rojo a little over a year ago and showed Kevin Burton what I had of FeedMuncher. He seemed to like it, although I never really talked to him much about feed aggregation as a platform...)

On a completely unrelated note, the stop motion animation project I worked on at the UofC is now on YouTube.

• Trailer 1
  
• Trailer 2
  
• Ducky at the Reg (final version)
  

It's been a while since I've posted in this blog, so a quick update. I moved to Sunnyvale last week, and have moved into an apartment that I'm pretty pleased with. My phoneline isn't up yet, I don't have internet access at home (unless I mooch my upstairs neighbor's wireless connection), I still haven't unpacked my clothes or books (which is 80% of the stuff I own), but I feel pretty comfortable here anyway.

I started work this week, and so far, I'm pleased with that as well. There's a bit of a learning curve because I'm not used to structured development environments with large teams, and because 360 uses an advanced architecture that's different to what I've done in the past. Having said that, the people are just amazing, and they've been extremely helpful in getting me on my feet... although it'll be a while before my foosball skills are up to Yahoo standards (of course, the team's helping me with that as well :-).

All in all, things are pretty peachy out here. Once I settle in, I'll probably be able to post more regularly as well...

I'm excited to announce that earlier this week, I accepted an offer from Yahoo! for a Senior Web Developer position on the Yahoo! 360 team. I'll be starting at the Sunnyvale campus on June 27th.

I had also received an offer from what's probably one of the sexiest startups in the valley right now (at least in the area I'm interested in), but ultimately decided to take Yahoo's offer because:

• Yahoo 360 is/will be an awesome social networking/blogging/etc tool that'll be used by millions
• my past experiences would be highly relevant to the job, but I would also learn a lot and be challenged
• Yahoo seems more dedicated to their employees' well-being and development (for example, through internal training courses)
• I'll be in an environment where I'll have access to some of the industry's great minds and leaders, including people like Rasmus Lerdorf (creator of PHP) and several alpha-bloggers (and a large pool of smart Yahoos).
• the 360 team went to great lengths to pull me in, and convinced me that they were a team I'd want to be a part of
• as my first "real" job out of college, I think working at Yahoo maximizes my future options, both inside and outside of Yahoo

Graduation was today, and I'm happy to say that I now have a B.A. in Computer Science from the University of Chicago.




This marks the end of a journey that spanned literally 2/3rd of the way around the world, involving 4 colleges and universities over a span of 6 years. Yet, at the end, graduation itself was rather anti-climactic. If anything, I'm more excited about my new job (which I'll be able to officially announce sometime in the next week or so).

Got back from California yesterday after a very successful job interviewing trip. I'm not going to post details (I have detailed writeups in a secure location, ask me if you want to know how to access them), but I met a lot of really cool people, interviewed at or otherwise visited a number of hot companies, and generally had a great time. Thanks to all of those who made it happen (you know who you are).

As for the results, I've gotten a couple of really amazing offers from very very exciting companies. Once I've made a decision and everything's final, I'll be sure to write about it here.

Heading to the airport in a few minutes, then off to Silicon Valley for a whole week of interviews and meetings with cool people and sexy companies. It's going to be a lot of fun... Gotta run, but more later (maybe).

Scav Hunt ended on Sunday with judgment. Our team tied for 1st place with our rival team, despite a 39 point difference (somewhat controversial issue, but I understand the rationale behind the decision).

Now it's back to normal life, although many of us are still recovering from "scav withdrawal". For me, scav is like life concentrate. Take everything that's boring, mundane, or not memorable out of life, throw in everything that's good, exciting and awesome, pack it into 4 days, and you get scav hunt. What I really love about scav, and about my team in particular, though, isn't so much The Hunt itself but the human aspect. We had an alumn fly back from England, a girl worked on items while away in Italy, a sibling drove up from Mississippi, a guy drank a shot of sweat, another kept hammering a penny while spewing blood from a wounded finger, not to mention all the basics like sleep, food, sanitation, and sanity that get thrown out, all for the love of the team and the hunt. There's something fundamentally pure and beautiful about it...

Anyway, for those of you who weren't here for the fun:

• official website
• pictures, more pictures, even more pictures
• The List
• an article in the Chicago Sun Times (for the first time in years, it apparently wasn't on Slashdot)

Also, check out The Assbook, a fully functional Facebook parody that a friend of mine wrote in 4 days (by himself) for our team.

And finally, my favorite picture (you can just barely see me in between the vertical columns of the trebuchet):

[Tagged: scavhunt university+of+chicago ]

...does life hate me? I'm starting to get sick, and I totally don't get this latest discrete problem set (generating functions).

I had a pretty insane day today...

2am      - bed
7:30am   - up
8:00~10:30am - photography and film paper
10:30-12:00pm - photography and film
12:00-12:30pm - lunch
13:30-15:00pm - computer vision
15:00-15:30pm - meeting with cs advisor
17:00-18:40pm - discrete TA session
18:45-18:55pm - dinner
19:00-19:50pm - physics problem session
20:00-00:00am - discrete problem set

The good news is, as far as my CS work goes, I'm still on track to gradumacate at the end of the year (i.e. Spring 05). Bad news is, I'll be taking Algorithms and Operating Systems (i.e. writing a kernel) Winter Quarter, which has about a 50% probability of killing me. Of course, all this is assuming I pass discrete math...

Today was a bizarre day. I did a full write-up about my day, but after consulting with Eric, decided that it might be a bit much for some of you more sensitive folk out there. In general it was a good day, although maybe the fact that I went to bed at 8am and got up two hours later at 10am has something to do with the sort of low-level eurphora I felt all day. I'm sure the full reality of this day will hit me sometime in the near future...

BTW, my D-Link USB WiFi adapter arrived today. My review: it sucks ass. The signal strength might not be bad, but the software is so clunky it almost feels like using Windows. If you ask me, an AirPort card that simply works might almost be worth paying $120-150.

I spent most of the afternoon/evening in the MacLab working on the Ducky DVD (I spent most of yesterday cleaning up some shots, mostly by hand in GIMP). Really, I just had to slap on a modified version on a DVD to send as an entry for the Chicago International Film Festival, but once I started up iDVD, I figured I might as well do the whole shebang. It was the first time I'd ever used iDVD, but like most of the other iApps, it's delightfully easy to use. The UI's a bit clunky at times, but considering how complicated the process could otherwise be, I'm more than willing to turn a blind eye to the few minor blemishes. If anything, annoying glitches going from FinalCut Pro 3 (which I have on my PB) to FCP 4 (which the MacLab has) caused more headaches than anything else... That and my external drive running out of space (which was easily remedied by burning data onto DVDs).

Despite having a pile of stuff to do before I leave for Portland, I bowed down to temptation and watched Hero last night. The film is beautifully shot, and the production design is impeccable. On the other hand, I found the plot to be rather simplistic, and after Crouching Tiger and Matrix, the action sequences aren't quite as impressive as they once may have been (i.e. good, but not revolutionary). I could say more, but I can't think of a way to say it without spoiling it, so I'll stop now.

Right now, well, the last thing I'm supposed to be doing is writing in my blog. But I think that's usually the case. In any case, suffice to say, I have a pile of stuff to do in the next 12 hours or so. So maybe I'll just stop talking about it and get to it...

I went downtown today to cash my tax refund, then walked on down Michigan Ave on a wild shopping rampage (that continued on in Hyde Park).

So my first stop was the Apple Store to see if I can get one of those swanky Bluetooth keyboards. Alas, it turns out that to use a PB with the display shut, you need to have a USB keyboard. So I went around the block to CompUSA to check out 3rd party keyboards, and since they all sucked, I walked back to the Apple Store.

But then, I passed the Disney Store and realized that they had a sale going, so I sauntered in among the soccer moms and spoiled 4 year old brats, running wild and drooling with blood shot eyes full of consumer lust. But, lo and behold, what else did I see? A pile of Nemos did I see. Oh yes, the very same Nemos that I've always wanted that were sold out for the longest time.

So I got me a Nemo.

With Disney bag in hand (looking like a skanky consumer ho') I walked into the Apple Store, and bought me a USB keyboard. I felt so dirty...

Then, I came home and checked on marketplace like I do every now and then, and what did I see? A Sony Trinitron G400 "17-inch" monitor did I see. Yes, a "17-inch" monitor that happens to be a 19" monitor. For $30. So I bought it.

My name is Ryo, and I'm a dirty consumer whore.

(In defense of my honor and everything that is good in this world, today's purchases amounted to around 1/3 of my tax refund. I swear I'll put the rest of it to good use... And besides, this $30 19" monitor does 1344x1008 pixels at 100MHz! Tell me that's not a steal.)

Moved into Max East this morning. Turns out they gave me an entire suite, with two single-rooms, a toilet and shower. It's pretty sweet. I've got one room designated as the cold/storage room, where I have the AC turned up all the way to keep my PowerBook/Server (and food) happy, and plan on using the other room for myself.

Don't worry, I still haven't sold my soul.... I still prefer Hitchcock over this impersonal, imposing, sterile high-tech barbie-prison.

I'm starting to remember what it's like to live in total social isolation. For the most part, it's not so bad, partially because, I've gotten used to being alone out of necessity. It would be much better if the MacLab wasn't closed, but that's a problem that would be remedied tomorrow at 8am.

I haven't been too productive... there's just too much I want to do that I'm rather scatterbrained. After hanging out in the C-Shop with Jakob and Nicole (fellow ex-Stony Islanders) for a while, I went to the Reg, picked out a book from my reading list stashed away in my locker (most of which are books from the warfare class I never finished reading), then went to a production meeting at 5406 Woodlawn for Sousa's film project. Then I sauntered back to campus with Denish, talking to him about my BA project, then decided I was starving, and went to Noodles for some Pad Tai goodness...

I spent the last few hours doing research on high performance computing on Macs, while thinking about parallelization and file formats, all interspersed with occasional readings from John Keegan's "Face of Battle". I've downloaded Xgrid, which might be useful for the renderer, but for the actual battle simulation engine, I might need to use something like Pooch. Either way, I'm trying to avoid reinventing inferior wheels like I usually do.

Today was move-out day for most people. I spent pretty much the whole day helping Gwen move to her apartment, and just said goodbye to her. The dorm's empty, except for a few graduates who are leaving tomorrow. I can theoretically stay until Monday morning, but I might move out tomorrow depending on whether or not I'll be able to move into Max East. The place is eerily quiet.

I can't believe the year is over...