getting the apartment ready!

If I ever become some kind of famous innovater in the world of media, there is just one thing I wish to fix that should be done right. I’m talking about the filters that the DSL companies provide to block out the noise on the phone when you have an active DSL connection on the same line. I have always been able to hear a significant amount of white hissing noise! Is it just me, or are they designing the filter for old people who can’t hear as high pitches as young people like us. C’mon! This should be a classical filtering problem all us signal processing engineers learned in a second year course. Seriously, unless I’m missing something huge, it should not be difficult to block out noticable noise… just make a filter with an adequate rejection band. The current level of noise I hear is so bad, that I think anything would make it better! Yeesh..

I’ve been stunned and amazed by Michel Gondry’s videos.. been downloading them like crazy. He’s the mastermind behind such great vids as Around the World (Daft Punk) and more recently, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

O Minion of Chalk
Hoisting timely marks of discipline.
I Pray–pass my vessel with peace
For I give no honour
to thy Traffic lords

isn’t heights, or public speaking, or even prolonged suffering. My greatest fear is senility. I don’t want to come to a point in my life where I can’t think for myself or know what’s happening. My strategy for avoiding this is based on the old saying: Use it, or lose it! My long term plans include a career in research (or teaching). But, many find that it is after retirement that senility sets in. My plan is to always stay mentally active, whether it be drowning myself in engineering, or creating pieces of work in illustrator. I guess it all comes down to meaning. If I find meaning in my life, there won’t be a struggle for focus. I read somewhere that everyone needs to state a meaning for their lives in a succinct few sentences. Well, here is mine, as of right now:

I exist to create intelligent solutions for manipulating, delivering, or creating visual or aural media.

I admit, it is broad. But if you would have asked me that question four years ago, I probably would have given you a blank stare.

Karen with her massive plate of Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant on Castro St. in Mountainview.

Karen came over on wednesday, and we went out to the city together. Met up with her friend Sylvia, an assistant production manager for films. She’s a very knowledgeable person for media arts and films; very interesting to meet her indeed.

In other news, I got the job at Audience! I’m very satisfied, and will be starting on monday.

Tippy is still away on her business trip.. I miss you!