ang*e

I torrented and learned to use iMovie a few nights ago to edit the raw footage Jazmin took at the Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #4 on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 in San Francisco.

Here is how various video hosting sites are displaying the same batch of videos. I thought it was interesting to see how they differ side by side. I prefer to be able to select directly (or from a wider variety, say 10 screenshots for Facebook instead of 3 screenshots for YouTube). I also like how information is displayed on Vimeo video embeds, with Facebook video embeds information display being a close second. That being said, I think I'm going with Vimeo. Plus, people can download the file from Vimeo whereas the other video hosting services don't allow downloading the video.

Vimeo (one presentation/video)

Pros:
Free account holders get 200MB of video files to upload a week
No cap on file length, really (14 minute videos are OK)
Ability to replace video easily
I can upload my own featured video screenshot or pick from 10 screenshots to choose from
Embedding video options are plentiful and super user-friendly :)

Cons:
Free account holders must wait an hour before uploaded videos are posted/available online



Facebook (one presentation/video)

Pros:
Maximum length of videos: 20 minutes
I can tag the speaker on Facebook to the video
Provides screenshots from the video for you to choose from for the featured video screenshot
Embedded video looks nice enough

Cons:
Can't replace the video file
Can't add the video to the Facebook fan page for Girl Geek Dinners, oddly enough



YouTube (one presentation/video)

Pros:
Hello, virality!
Ability to replace files easily

Cons:
Maximum length of video: 10 minutes (2 of 4 speakers run over 10 minutes)
Presents only three video screenshots to choose from for the featured video screenshot



YouTube (playlist format of four presentations/videos)

Pros:
All speaker presentations in one place

Cons:
Nobody (including me) can intuitively figure out how to USE this embedded video player



I should probably have put all the "pros" and "cons" into a table.. Oh well, it's 5AM, no time for that :P

Touche.

I moved out of my San Francisco apartment on Januarty 15th, 2009.

Between January 15th and February 12th, I did not have access to my mailbox at 495 Frederick St., Apt #4 in San Francisco. I didn't set up mail forwarding because I hadn't found a a new apartment yet, so I went online to set up two week-long mail holds for my mail. I think this was in vain because I could not make it to San Francisco to pick up my mail, so I assumed my mail went back to the mailbox at 495 Frederick St., Apt #4.

I finally made it to the Haight street post office yesterday, which services my 495 Frederick Street apartment. I wrote down my address and they looked and said they had nothing for me.

Currently, my mail is being forwarded to the Berkeley downtown post office using a service called "general delivery". Everything from February 12th and onward has been correctly routing to me. I walk to the downtown Berkeley post office, hand them my ID card, and collect mail sent to my 495 Frederick address. It works well.

But regardless, I am missing a month of mail which includes unemployment checks and insurance payments! My old landlord says that there is no new resident to my old SF apartment, and that the mail box is empty. The San Francisco post office has nothing for me, and the Berkeley post office only has my fresh mail but no old mail.

So where is my month of mail?

Cool site called "Friends of the Labyrinth" talks about the Mazzariello Labyrinth, commonly known as "Mazzariello's Maze," was originally laid out in the form of a classical labyrinth.

Located in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, in the East Bay Regional Park District, in the hills above Oakland, California, the Mazzariello Labyrinth (also dubbed the "Volcanic Witch Project") is in a remote location, ideally suited as a place of serenity and contemplation. Those who take the time to trek the extra distance to reach the site, enter and walk the Labyrinth, pray, meditate, or simply examine the messages and talismans left in the center are rewarded with an experience that is profoundly spiritual. A total absence of clergy and congregation, the sensation is quiet and humble, yet up front and personal.



One of several labyrinths hidden in the hills of Sibley Volcanic park, in Oakland, CA, former site of various quarries, and formerly known as Round Top Park. This one has been around since the 80s. One of them purportedly since the 1940s.

I'd never crossed the pond before, so I was very excited and unsure what to expect. I packed lightly -- only one red coat. I intended to purchase another coat in London, but couldn't decide which to buy.

I did buy some Kate Moss dresses at Topshop at the request of my sister, and had fun buying random things at Boots pharmacy. Got some dinosaur lights from the National Science Museum, books from Waterstones and the National Portrait Museum... but mostly tried to absorb and understand central London culture. The boyfriend would say I was trying to understand their retail culture, as I tried to understand what each London store or brand represented :P

In the London Underground, 90% of women/girls were wearing black tights, black shoes, black coat, and a skirt (solid color or a flower print). Londoners are much more lithe than Americans... More fashionable on average. I tried to include people in my pictures, because you can find pictures of Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and Stonehenge anywhere.


Arriving to London -- When Obama won the election, the headline on the paper was "THE DAY AMERICA BECAME A LITTLE BIT COOL AGAIN"


London Underground -- Love the girl's big flowery bag.


Bens -- Ben and THE Big Ben.


The London Eye -- Meets my eye. Photo by Ben Young.


Hedgehog! -- Women's magazines in the UK often include a free candy bar, or maybe even a skinny belt, in the shrink-wrapped packaging. This is a typical magazine stand inside the London Underground.


Westminster Abbey -- Around Remembrance Day. Photo by Ben Young.


Inside the London Eye -- Excited having spotted the Gherkin building (it's over my shoulder in the picture). Photo by Ben Young.


Inside the London Eye -- Obligatory picture of typical London style - black tights, black boots, a flower print dress, and a dark coat.


St. James Park -- Squirrel!


St. James Park -- Bird Feeding Area.


St. James Park -- Knotty tree.


Buckingham Palace -- Obligatory tourist photo. Photo by Ben Young


No Exits -- There are only ways out of the London Underground.


Stars Blanketing Streets -- The commerce streets by Piccadilly Circus, et al.


Tea at Liberty -- Nice china... expensive afternoon tea.


V&A -- Models being photographed in the museum while museum visitors stare.


V&A -- A bench very reminiscent of Cinderella coach/pumpkin.


V&A -- Love the wrought iron collection -- England has such beautiful decorative touches to their houses and neighborhoods!


V&A -- Lots of old things and/or their replicas at the V&A.


Portobello Road -- Cute wire-frame mannequins.


Get your own glasses! -- Bar on Portobello Road.


L'Autre Pied -- Sat between a backlit flower-printed wall/panel, and apparently a nice back room.


Little door -- There are a lot of little doors in England. Photo by Ben Young.


Harrods -- Ben amuses himself while sitting outside the changing rooms at Harrods. Photo by Ben Young.


Harrods -- Fish for cat.


Monkey: Journey to the West -- Saw the bizarre opera at the O2. Photo by Ben Young.


Tower Bridge -- Walking on the bridge looking up at the tower. Photo by Ben Young.


Hibiscus -- Lunch started with a complimentary drink (top left) that was foamy and exquisite.


Hibiscus -- They branded their knife. I forgot what my entree was, but that blimp/football shaped green mush (under the dark green cracker) was really damn good.


Kew Gardens -- Waterlily house.


Kew Gardens -- Want a Waterlily House in my freaking backyard. Photo by Ben Young.


Kew Gardens -- One last picture in the Waterlily House.


Wicked -- Saw Wicked in the Apollo Victoria Theatre.


Outside Arbutus -- We had lunch at Arbutus, which we liked so much that we went to its sister restaurant Wild Honey for dinner.


Wild Honey -- Yes, that's wild honey ice cream on a bed of crushed honeycomb. Delicious, but seriously, why does a lot of my food have to come in the shape of a blimp or football? Could they not make balls, but only blimps?


Cow-spotted garbage -- Spotted somewhere on the street. We were wandering in central London looking for how to access 30 St. Mary Axe.


30 St. Mary Axe -- AKA the Swiss Re Tower or the Gherkin. I love this building so much -- was super excited to see it in person after seeing pictures in magazines and its brief appearance in Match Point.


Trafalgar Square -- Fountains, Nelson's Column, and no pigeons due to rain. Photo by Ben Young.


Trafalgar Square -- Chris, it was too cold to stomp through the fountains at Trafalgar Square! Photo by Ben Young.


King's Cross Station -- In front of our First Capital Connect train to visit Cambridge, with Upper Crust baguette sandwich and white coffee in hand. Breakfast!


Cambridge -- Watching the punter guide the tourists on boat through the River Cam on the Cambridge campus. Photo by Ben Young.


Cambridge -- A green field on the Cambridge campus. Maybe you can actually walk on this one, because you can't walk on the grass in the courtyards! Photo by Ben Young.


Cambridge -- Pretty campus attracts myriad tourists.


Cambridge -- Magnificent and very, very old. Photo by Ben Young.


Cambridge -- Resting my feet. Photo by Ben Young.


Cambridge -- Looking at the forbidden grass. You can't walk on the grass in the courtyards.


Cambridge -- Sweaty Betty next to a picturesque street in Cambridge.


Cambridge -- Really old and pretty cathedral on campus.


Cambridge -- Afternoon tea in Cambridge.


Cambridge -- Afternoon tea in Cambridge included potato waffles.


Cambridge -- Store selling Cath Kidston - Vintage inspired prints popular in England.


Tour Bus to Stonehenge -- Everyone is taking pictures out of the bus.


English Countryside -- Sheep dot the pastures en route to Stonehenge.


Stonehenge -- ... And a long line of tourists.


Stonehenge -- Being gracious tourists at the prehistoric site.


Stonehenge -- More obligatory tourist pictures. Photo by Ben Young.


Ben Young & Co. -- Ben took this picture of us at Stonehenge.


Stonehenge -- Ben's brother Johnny, Ben, and me posting in front of Stonehenge. We got another tourist to take this picture of us.


Electrified Fence -- Poor sheep.


Sad Portraiture -- Reminds me of a Hendrik Kerstens portrait.

When GirlHack Twittered if anyone else had Paradisa Legos as a kid, I responded "Yes!" and then Frances answered affirmatively as well.

Legos are awesome for little girls. So are XO laptops and the Alice game for teaching young 'uns to program.



Poolside Paradise (1992)



Seaside Cabana (1992)

Ah, memories. Spent some time digging thru the OldLego.com website and found that my sister and I also played with these sets:

Central Precinct HQ (1993)



Emergency Treatment Center (1987)



Battery Train Set (1985)

--- What Legos did you have growing up? What are the best and most fun games for kids? Bonus points if they expand your intellectual capacity.

What happens when two child-at-heart members of the videogame journalism industry get married?

The result? -- A wedding at the San Francisco Zoo with live animals with trainers, acoustic version of Portal's (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) "Still Alive" during the ceremony, Rock Band, a photobooth, a Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" entrance, a nighttime carousel ride, Hungy Hungry Hippos centerpieces, a farewell/goodnight RickRoll, a giant lollipop bouquet, and a first dance to a song from Stubbs the Zombie (Xbox) ("Strangers in the Night" by Cake), and Fisher Price Zoo cake.

I love this ENTIRE wedding photo album. It's amazing, and has includes some animals (armadillo, tortoise... unfortunately no picture of the ferret present at the wedding).

Thanks Annie for the head's up on this cool picture set. A wedding at a zoo does sound fun, but in the far flung future :P

Crowded Women 2.0 wine & cheese mixer held in my living room on Wednesday, July 30, 2008. There's Arielle Scott in the yellow shirt and black cardigan, and judging by the wavy black hair and sporty jacket in the picture, I'm going to guess she's talking to Annie Chang (not my sister, the other Annie Chang) who co-founded LOLapps.


I live at the corner of Frederick and Stanyan -- above a Thai restaurant -- see the street sign outside? Yep! When I had dozens of girls squeezed into my living room, I had mental images of what it would look like if we burst through the ground of my old Victorian building and wound up in the Thai restaurant downstairs, picking ourselves off each other in an apologetic way. Everyone was so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and eager to meet and greet, and SO INSPIRED by everyone else who also happen to have a day job AND a night job...


There's my new shorter haircut! Shaherose and I stood on the couch to get everyone's attention. Women 2.0 co-founders make introductions, then we make everyone introduce themselves. We always get sucha diverse, interesting crowd!


They're standing in front of my feminist library/bookshelf. I was happily surprised when Linda Yang (middle) started asking things like what I thought about Manifesta and Feministing.com. She lives nearby so I wound up lending her a book by Maureen Dowd that happened to be in my bookshelf (my sister bought the book and left it in the apartment after she moved out.)


These women care about quality wine and good food -- and since they're so awesome, they always bring interesting or home-made foodstuff with them. For example, I only bought 5 bricks of cheese from Andronico's for the mixer. At the end of the night, I was looking at 9 bricks of cheese, home-baked bread with fruit and nuts, eggrolls, a pair of shiny new shoes from Shirley Lin, and colorful coasters for stemmed glasses. Seriously awesome women are in Women 2.0.


That's my flatmate Curtis Chambers cooking up a storm in the kitchen. He does that, and he's very good at it. He made fresh avocado and tomato bruschetta for the mixer! But probably most importantly to the girls, he's a software developer at Akamai and very good at what he does. I hear some women are looking for developers, co-founders, Internet marketing gigs...


Just before she heads out, Neha Sampat shows off her Italy Girl Geek Dinners shirt because she knows I do Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners. She's friends with the organizer of Girl Geek Dinners in Italy, and super nice. Maybe she will get VMware (where she works) to sponsor a Girl Geek Dinner here! That would be awesome.

[15:19] turtlegal82: wow this iphone launch is turning into an epic fail
[15:19] thisgirlangie: :)
[15:19] thisgirlangie: what's up?
[15:19] turtlegal82: have people forgotten how to plan things?
[15:19] turtlegal82: first firefox, now this
[15:19] turtlegal82: the servers are still down

Today I was an epic nerd and found myself at the Palo Alto Apple stores at 6AM in the morning, and also standing in line for literally hours for the new 3G iPhone with my coworker Jill. There were many bugs on the operations side of the 3G iPhone launch, but the atmosphere at the Palo Alto locations at least was very upbeat.



3 and a half hours and $200 later, Jill has a new 3G iPhone!



Jill using her new 3G iPhone with the cool iPhone covers we gave out this morning:



More pictures from today

I used my dcam to take a video of the line at the Stanford Shopping Center Apple store at around 8AM this morning:



And seriously, can the flowers in the cement planters at Stanford Shopping Center be more annoyingly perfect?

Photo credit: Terry Chay

[17:03] thisgirlangie: oh
[17:03] thisgirlangie: http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v284/212/74/3502094/n3502094_30196212_7464.jpg
[17:04] jenn: haha it's the fake face tilt downward
[17:04] thisgirlangie: ?
[17:04] jenn: looking up
[17:04] jenn: it's a way to look not fat
[17:04] jenn: it's a trick
[17:04] thisgirlangie: ha.
[17:04] jenn: if you don't want ever to have double chins in a photo, always tilt your face slightly downward
[17:04] thisgirlangie: omg
[17:04] jenn: and look up

Wow. This is what I get for neglecting to pay attention to women's magazines growing up.

Here are some of my favorite tweets & pictures from the June 26th Geek Dinner AKA Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook.


Tweeted by: Sarah Mei at twitter.com/sarahmei/statuses/845065570


Tweeted by: Cyan Banister at twitter.com/cyantist/statuses/845107524


Tweeted by: Cyan Banister at twitter.com/cyantist/statuses/845108773


Tweeted by: Heather Gold at twitter.com/heathr/statuses/844598497


Photo credit: Vanessa Naylon


Photo credit: Vanessa Naylon


Photo credit: Vanessa Naylon


Photo credit: Vanessa Naylon



Photo credit: Jessica Palopoli

My pictures from the Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #2 are here. The venue was pretty dark, so my pictures didn't come out too well.

Thanks for our photographers Jessica and Vanessa, and to Cianna and Facebook for videotaping the event. I'll post the video here when it comes out.

3 Cheers for Girl Geeks of all Stripes and Spots!

Went to a dinner party in Mountain View put on by one of Ben's salsa teachers at Google. Was reminded that whenever you put the salsa kids together, there is some dancing to be had. It's like swing kids, but salsa kids...

So this is bachata dancing. Here are some videos on how to dance bachata I found online. Seriously, MC Hammer's DANCEJAM is getting more and more disappointing to me every day. Such high hopes...



I thought this was cute. The boys got tired (it was like midnight) so Daria led PeiPei in dancing. In salsa, usually the guy has to be a good leader and the girl just follows. But apparently Daria is a good lead as well, more girls don't ever learn to lead (AKA learn the guy's moves). I personally think it's hard enough to learn the girl's side - all that twirling ties me in knots, literally!



Practice makes perfect, right? Time to hit more salsa clubs in the city. We were watching the salsa competition in 2005 on video -- the salsa team "JR & Emily" were smoking hot! She was wearing a 50s flapper-style dress to dance in, unlike some other girls in salsa competition who wear skirts reminiscent of drive-thru car washes.......

I'm thinking of buying these shoes:



So they will match my seafoam-green iPod nano:



Is that so terrible? My current running shoes look like they went to hell and back.

We had the most amazing time hiking with llamas, thanks to George Caldwell and his llamas (www.experiencellamas.com) who came out to Redwood Regional Park in Oakland for the Saturday, March 29th hike. Yes, George and his assistant drove 8 llamas from Sonora (2 hours north of the bay) in 2 regular-sized vans down to the verdant hills of Oakland for the 16 person hike. Isn't it amazing how they fit in vans?!!

Anyway, I had invited all my local friends (and some non-locals who I hoped could make the long-distance trek for the love of llamas) to the expedition but only a few could make it that weekend. Some got discouraged by the East Bay Regional Park website's cumbersome registration system, and others couldn't commit to registering weeks ahead of time (the event sold out).

It was so worth it. You get one llama for every two people! I was so jazzed. We learned to pack the llama, feed it, care for it, pet it (not on its head tho!), and we learned so much about them. About how they spit only in extreme circumstances, like, if another llama sniffed its butt (the offended llama will spit forward, not backward, and an undeserving soul will be spitted on). So we kept the llamas apart to avoid unnecessary spitting. However, my llama spit on Chris and Jenn's llama -- cuz their llama got in my llama's face. That was HYSTERICAL. Llamas spat at each other and never spat on us humans. You know, us humans who kept hugging them and taking pictures with them.



The hike was 4-6 miles of the French trail in Redwood Regional Park. It was GORGEOUS. The previous day saw lots of misty rain but no heavy rain, so Saturday morning at 10AM saw lots of mist in the fern-dense forest. It's hard to put into words how magical the area is. George was super friendly and taught us random fun things, like how a circle of redwoods (we were looking at one) means they had sprouted from one big redwood that was logged (the area had been logged before). We had our lunches (which the llamas carried easily) at a picnic site, where lots of passer-byers took camera pictures of the llamas. It must be a curious site to see! Half a dozen llamas chilling in the middle of a park.

***

Anyway, that was Saturday. On Sunday, I had brunch in the city with some girls in tech, then convinced Ben to drive to the city to meet me and go to the San Francisco Zoo. After the tiger-eats-boy hubbub, I was very curious to see this zoo I heard so much about (I read the SFGate.com comments... terrible I know, but it was interesting to put an ear to the ground). Plus, interning at the Taipei Zoo for a summer really gave me perspective on zoos and how they work. So we went and bought $11 tickets each at 4PM for a zoo that closes at 5PM on Sundays. I really believe in supporting this zoo, so whatever. And seriously, those tickets are CHEAP! I am used to big entertainment places like Disneyland and Universal Studios, which also promise a day of fun, and I can't believe the upkeep of so many animals can be funded with such low ticket prices. It's excellent though, because it also allows EVERYONE to come and enjoy the zoo -- bring the kids! But I digress.

I liked the giraffes in their barn, because it was really windy that day. A lot of the animals were hiding or inside because of the wind and chill at 4PM, but we saw some primates. I love the emperor tamarins -- they are so Dr. Seuss-ical!! And they're super animated and inquisitive, they keep angling and turning their heads side to side to look at you.

I saw the polar bear sleeping (I love their big paws) and visited the grizzly gulch but didn't see any bears. I loved the penguin exhibit, how they have all these apartments/cubbies, the hose blasting water, and even their own Zen rock garden!

The most interesting exhibit was the tapir, with its long snout that moves! It was eating in a back corner of its exhibit, in what looks like an aesthetically bleak space. Ben said, "The tapir should have more tropical plants in his environment" and then I started wondering if I could like, give the tapir a tropical plant -- the way people give each other flowers or gifts. I'm Twittering with the SF Zoo which made me giddy with excitement when I got a lead on how to make this happen. We shall see...

Found this on Etsy.com rather randomly, and just had to buy it. "I bought a stuffed angler fish today on Etsy.com!" I told the boyfriend. "But what's an angler fish?" he asked.

I did a Google image search on "angler fish" and some fun stuff came up:



Angler fish in real life and as drawn by a kid.



Would you like a Tonky wall sticker of an angler fish for $35 (small) or $55 (large)?



This cool angler fish shirt can be yours for only $25!



"So I went from OMG, my son wants to be an angler fish for Halloween, I have three days left and I haven't even started! .....to idea, design, prototype and finished two hours later. Here it is. (I'm pretty impressed with myself) There is a mini glow stick on the end of the bait pole." (Found on a message board about Halloween costumes)



Your favorite angler fish can also be polka dotted, apparently.



A recipe for grilled angler fish with avocado and bouillon.

The guy's eye-candy on Cashmere Mafia too! (IMDB listing for Val Matt Emmich)

Everytime I see this:



I think of this image:



Makes me wish I were an open-source developer :*(

There's a website I rediscovered today. It's called Sk*rt and it's basically "Digg.com for girls"



I remember like a year or two ago, I wanted to make Digg for girls. SOMEONE ACTUALLY MADE DIGG FOR GIRLS!

Kudos to Sk*rt! I posted the Women 2.0 Business Plan Competition to their site and it is being ranked up -- I don't know their rhetoric for improving the popularity/ranking of a posted item is yet, but check out the comment I got to the post. It's true, a community site is only as good as its members.

I really like this site and I hope the growing user base will feed good tech and business articles relevent to women! Please join me at sk*rt and help make their content damn good, because TechCrunch and Digg and Valleywag are so overrun with chauvenistic comments that are never moderated. Technology doesn't have to be all about looking at women as escorts or the dates of rich Silicon Valley men. Seriously. Good ol' girls club, anyone?