Category: about me

Pure Vanity.

Irony

So, the weather got decent in San Francisco (which has been rare).

On this beautiful Friday, as a way of getting myself unstuckavoiding work, I am trying out [Unstuck][]…

Unstuck's Pick 3

It asks me if I’m using Wikipedia as a way of avoiding work. (I am using Unstuck app a way of avoiding work I should be doing at [Wikimedia Foundation][wmf].)

The irony is thick with that one.

…

Update: It appears that the app is useful if you are only stuck creatively, not if you’re just procrastinating. Helping me be more creative? That’s the exact opposite of what I need.

[Unstuck]: http://www.unstuck.com “Unstuck iPad app: How to live better every day”
[wmf]: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home “Wikimedia Foundation”

Posted on by tychay 0

How I read and listen

[My mom][mom] loved to tell people that ever since I was three, I’d tell people that my favorite hobby was talking[^hobby]. I haven’t changed.

As someone who spent the majority of his life with his mouth open, the few moments when I switch my brain from `SEND` to `RECEIVE` become very precious.

[mom]: TODO “Dreams… TODO”
[^hobby]: TODO make sure I haven’t blogged this story before.

Continue reading about How I RECEIVE data after the jump

Posted on by tychay 0

The Washington Monument (and me)

From my Uncle Francis:

Hello Terry,

Your birthday is coming soon (6/9/12). Happy birthday to you, Terry.

We hope for your & Marie’s continued success & happyness.

I am sorry for not communicating with you. I am still OK but have to do many medical checkup and others.

I have been looking at old photos in an album was sent by my + your mom’s mom after we lost our home by fire in 1991.
I found a photo of you, Ken, & your mom at the Washington Monument, all in smile. What a happy time that was! I often
wish that your mom is still here. She would have be mighty happy and proud of you and Kenny becoming so successful.

Uncle Francis & Auntie Clara

PS: I am a novice at Photoshop to retouch, hence, sorry for the photo being a kind of old faint yellowish look. A higher resolution (but without retouch) picture is attached.

Terry, Mom, and Ken at Washington D.C. (1973)

Me, Mom, and Ken at Washington D.C. (1973)
National Mall, Washington D.C.

Pentax K

(Of course, I retouched it in Aperture.)

Here are two stories inspired by the photo, I’ll share with you on my birthday.Continue reading Washington Monument stories after the jump

Posted on by tychay 0

Automattic outro

[The company I work for][automattic] is distributed [around the world][map]. Automattic is the company behind WordPress so we keep in track of each other using a hundred different internal blogs known as “[the P2s][p2].” Since we might not see each other for over a year, someone (probably [Sara][sara rosso]) got the crazy idea of that new employees should record a video introducing ourselves to the rest of the company. Later, around my birthday, some of the old hands also belatedly created and posted videos to the P2s.

I secretly recorded one.

Since I am leaving Automattic, it made sense that I had better posted it before I leave.

By the way, Automattic is a great company, [you should work there][work at automattic]. As Marie said to me once, “It’s like a big company picnic…[with BBQ][matt bbq].”

[automattic]: http://automattic.com/ “Automattic”
[map]: http://automattic.com/about/#where “About Us—Automattic”
[Automatticians]: http://automattic.com/about/ “About Us—Automattic”
[Lloyd Dewolf]: http://foolswisdom.com/ “A Fool’s Wisdom: A Fool and his wisdom are soon parted”
[office porn]: http://terrychay.com/article/office-porn.shtml “Office Porn”
: https://en.gravatar.com/tychay
[p2]: http://p2theme.com/ “P2 WordPress Theme, like twitter”
[sara rosso]: http://www.sararosso.com/ “Sarra Rosso: Technology, Communication, Photography, Food & Travel”
[work at automattic]: http://automattic.com/work-with-us/ “Work With Us—Automattic”
[sopa blackout]: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/18/tech/sopa-blackouts/index.html “Wikipedia, other websites back after anti-piracy bill protest—CNN”
[wordpress]: http://wordpress.org/ “WordPress: Blog tool, Publishing Platform, & CMS”
[Wikimedia]: http://www.wikimedia.org/ “Wikimedia Foundation”
[matt bbq]: http://ma.tt/?s=bbq

What follows is a slightly modified version of my Automattic farewell.

Continue reading my farewell after the jump

Posted on by tychay 2

The Thunderscan story

I’m surprised I never got around to mentioned this, when [I promised I would][nans second story]. Since it’s been years, go back and read it, and come back. I’ll wait.

…

In high school, I owned a [Thunderscan][Thunderscan]. For those of you too lazy to click on the link, this was a device that would digitize photos by replacing the ink cartridge of your ImageWriter, [a dot-matrix printer][dot-matrix printer], popular with Macintosh computers of the era.

(For those of you too young to remember what a dot-matrix printer is: in the old days, our printers were slow enough that you could watch an episode of *[Cheers][Cheers]* waiting for it to print out an article or “graphics” —the latter of which was whatever came out of [Print Shop][theprintshop]. And they were so loud, that a popular accessory was huge muffled box to place the printer in, in order to contain what can only be described as the primal periodical scream of the then nascent personal computer, “Why the f*&k do I have to be tasked for the next half our printing up a sinfully ugly banner for [your terrible P.T.A Yard Sale][review the print shop]?”)

Now imagine something that did the reverse (put print into the computer) by scanning it line by line. And realize that a typical “line” of text back then was actually 24 “lines” to this scanner.

This was a Thunderscan.

Continue reading The Thunderscan story after the jump

Posted on by tychay 0

I can't wait!

Brian Shire's been a bad boy.

Tekrat tests the computer controlled vinyl cutter.

Tekrat wrote me today:

So TechShop SF is finally open so that means I can finish up a lot of projects I’ve been meaning to do. One on the list was this graphic I wanted to print up a while ago. Unfortunately the one I tried on my laptop was the only one that came out right today 😀 Is the Macbook Air have the same as the Macbook Pro? As soon as I get my new blades I can cut another…

Unfortunately, the answer is no.

Stacked Apples

iPhone 4, iPad, MacBook Air 13″, MacBook Pro 15″, MacBook Pro 17″

Must. Be. Patient.

Posted on by tychay 0

We’re dying

From my cousin:

My mom forwarded me your presentation about your mom which was forwarded from your uncle which was forwarded from our cousin (haha!), and it was very nice.

I still remember when we came up to Pittsburgh for your mom’s funeral. I was only 12 and I remember only one story at the eulogy—so this was good to watch too—and I don’t remember if you or Ken said it but it was about…

Of course it was in a larger story where the people in the audience had laughed, but that was the quote I remember.

I forgot that story and that was one my mom liked to tell her university students. It was in the part of the eulogy where I talk about my mom and me (the second story). It goes like this…

Mom had a heart condition which made life tough on her and she sometimes, when she was tired or exasperated physically, she’d say, “I’m dying!”

“Terry, I’m dying!” She exclaimed one time when I was seven.

I was feeling irritable that day. “Mommy! I’m dying; you’re dying. From the minute we’re born, we’re dying!” I said.

Ever after that, when she’d want to say she’s dying, she’d follow it up with that quote: “Ahh! I’m dying …(pause)… ‘Mommy! From the minute we’re born, we’re dying.’”

And then she’d quietly smile to herself.

Continue reading more on “Broken Jewel” after the jump

Posted on by tychay 0

Broken Jewel—Automattic

Presentation given as Flash Talk at Automattic Meetup in Seaside on September 2010

Presentation is supposed to be Pecha Kucha style. But due to preparation constraints, it’s given as a short form.

Automattic is the company I work for. The company is distributed worldwide and once a year we gather at a remote location and meet face-to-face. This year, all the employees are taking a little time during the meetup to compose and give at least one presentation for each other, talking about any subject we are passionate about.

I started writing this talk a couple years back, and I have never found a venue to actually deliver it. Matt claims that, “You will not find a friendlier group of people to present to in the world” and that “Everybody has a story.”

This is mine.

Hope you enjoy it.

Broken Jewel—Automattic

View more webinars from terry chay.

I’ll pare it down from 20 minutes down to six eventually. BTW: there are two major errors: Pecha Kucha is pronounced closer to “peh-katch-u-ka.” And I meant “treatable” not “preventable.”

Update

19651222-chay-wedding

December 22, 1965
Posted on by tychay 1

Cradle bed

Yesterday was the 15th birthday of PHP, which was nice.

But today is my birthday, which is better!

A long, long time ago in a crib far, far away… (a story from Auntie Gia):

Have a very wonderful day today. This is an indeed a special day. I remember when your mother and father brought you home from the hospital after your birth. I was in Pittsburgh helping take care of Ken. Your parents brought out Ken’s old cradle bed. It was small. Before they could put you in it, Two year old Ken stuffed himself in the cradle, lied down, sucked his thumb and would not move. Your mom enjoyed that moment.

From the hospital

Back from the hospital, with my brother
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I guess they moved us to the bed (I am two weeks old in the photo).

Have a happy My Birthday, everyone!

Posted on by tychay 9

Family Photos

Take photos of your family.

Bernadette’s 1st Communion

My mom, aunt, and uncle in Kyoto Japan 1941. My other aunt (who hadn’t been born yet) sent me this photo today.

Distance is no object—that’s why we have Skype and screenshotting (Cmd-Shift-3 on the Macintosh).

Ken, Dad, and Mia on Skype

My brother, father, and sister-in-law in Providence 2010.

I’m going to try to use ScanCafe to digitize my parents old photos quickly. I am receiving it as “a thank you gift” during KQED Public Radio’s last pledge drive. The idea is they send you a box, you fill it with photos and slides, and then they give you DVDs with them digitized.

We’ll see how that goes.

Update: Here they are (and some of the ones here).

Posted on by tychay 5