Outgoing voicemail message that my mother just wouldn't understand:
We're sorry; you've reached an imaginary number. Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again.
Freshly back from my class in Seattle and feeling all smart, I participated in the Basement Pub's trivia night with some friends-of-a-friend. Sadly, none of the questions referred to logical device naming conventions or the unix file system, but my advanced knowledge of Spanish cinema and time zone math came in handy. Our team, Sophisticated But Nerdy, placed second. Better than the actual game was the opportunity to meet some more people in Portland -- my friend Karren's friends from OHSU were great. Young doctors and nurses, they're all articulate and gregarious. And gosh darn smart.
I'm enjoying my Sun course in Seattle this week. Only caveat -- the instructor is from Florida. He has MacGyver hair, wears lots of gold, and wanted to let us know that there was a brewhouse and a Hooters just down the street, should we be so inclined.
As I'm leaving for Seattle today and won't be around the Internet for a week, I thought I should post some of my thoughts from my SF trip last week. Mind you, these are all experiential thoughts. Actual information architecture or usability inspirations will be detailed here later -- most likely when I'm getting ready to apply them at work. So here are the more frilly details:
Jeff Veen is very tall. And when he gets excited, which is pretty much any time he's talking about user profiling, pools of saliva form in the corners of his mouth. Being in the front row of his lecture on web design, I feared that some of that liquid might end up on me, as from an excitable St. Bernard. But, never fear, he kept the spit in check. (Should you ever read this post, Jeff, know that I have the highest admiration for you. It's reassuring to know that my heros of the web world have their own peccadillos.)
Even in my tres gauche khakis, which Hannah had warned no one in the Bay Area would ever wear, two SFers thought I was one of their own. One asked where to catch the #5 bus, and another wanted me to volunteer drive for an AIDS benefit.
They guy at the middle eastern take-out hoped I spoke French. His English wasn't very good, and he really wanted a woman to talk to. I said tres desolee, took my falafel, and left.
Selected quotes from Ewan McGregor:
"Actually, I really want to play Princess Leia. Stick some big pastries on my head. Now, that would be interesting."
"I'm doing my bit for the women's movement. The women have always been naked in movies and now I'm just desperate to take my clothes off as much as possible."
Posted the photos from my San Francisco trip. For those of you related to me, or for the stalkers, here are some uncaptioned shots of my old house in Alameda.
I guess somebody didn't survive my absence. Funny to learn that your fish died from your friends' blogs. (Not that he died from Alan and Andy's blogs. They're not that bad.) I'm only really disappointed that he had the perfect name. Other than that, I don't feel much loss. Hazel's still stinkin' up the litterbox.
Just got back from the (Much) Nielsen/ (Invisible?) Norman User Experience Conference in San Francisco. More photos and stories about Jeff Veen's charming salivation habits when talking about user scenarios to follow.
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