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Thoughts and Rants

Random thoughts about nothing in particular

Virgin America: How a Bad Website Can Kill Good Will

In Personal, Thoughts and Rants on 17 May 2009 with 11 comments

Please make sure you read updates below on how Virgin America resolved our issues with the help of Twitter. Great customer service there but the same couldn’t be said for their phone support at the time. Ever since Virgin America launched, I’ve been eagerly waiting for the opportunity to fly with them. I’m a frequent [...]

Getting the Most Out of SxSW Interactive

In Thoughts and Rants on 13 March 2009 tagged austin, sxsw, sxswi, texas with 2 comments

I lived in Austin, Texas from 1999-2003 and have attended SxSW Interactive every year since 2004. Each year, I attended SxSW each year with a different role: web awards winner, press, speaker, moderator, core conversations facilitator, and then panel liaison. This post isn’t about the best food in Austin (Rudy’s BBQ and Amy’s Ice Cream) [...]

Kamekame-huh?

In Thoughts and Rants on 26 January 2009 tagged asian with 5 comments

I grew up on anime. In particular, like every teenager in Asia, I grew up watching, reading and in my case, drawing Dragonball Z. It was easily the most popular series in its time (the equivalent title nowadays would be Naruto). So when I found out there was going to be a live action movie, [...]

This Week

In Personal, Thoughts and Rants on 29 August 2007 with 1 comment

This week My brother’s getting married Our apartment got a notice to vacate One of my best friends got engaged Phew.

Flickr Old Skoolers Having a Fit: A Response From a Yahoo

In Technology, Thoughts and Rants on 1 February 2007 tagged flickr, yahoo! with 9 comments

Disclaimer: I work at Yahoo!, but not on Flickr. These are simply opinions of mine. Three things happened in quick succession this past week: Flickr limited number of tags to 75 and number of contacts to 3,000 They also announced a date when the users who aren’t using Yahoo! accounts would have to merge their [...]

Why I’m Not Getting an iPhone nor ModBook

In Technology, Thoughts and Rants on 17 January 2007 tagged apple, axiotron, iphone, macworld, macworld2007, modbook with 3 comments

The iPhone was announced amidst much hoo-hah last week at MacWorld. Those who know me know that I’m a gadget person but have been surprised to find I’m still using a Nokia 6100 phone – the same phone I’ve had for three years. Make no mistake, I’ve been shopping for a good integrated phone for [...]

To the Parent Sitting Behind Me

In Thoughts and Rants, Travel on 19 November 2006 with 6 comments

Hi, I know this is only an hour flight but do you remember, before you had a child, how you never wanted to sit in a flight with screaming babies and worse yet, a baby that’s kicking your seat? I’m sure it wasn’t that long ago. Your boy’s only just started to utter words and [...]

Just Keep Telling Me Facts and Keep Making Me Smile

In Thoughts and Rants on 27 April 2006 tagged lyrics with 2 comments

What are you holding out for? What’s always in the way? Why so damn absent-minded? Why so scared of romance?

For the Chinese in You

In Thoughts and Rants on 18 April 2006 tagged littleyellowdifferent, yahoo! with Comments Off

Late last year, Yahoo! gave out jackets for their annual gift. Even though the jackets weren’t exactly stylin’, everyone still lines up for it because – it’s free. Ernie pointed out that it’s especially bad if you’re Chinese. It’s genetically implanted in us to go for the free stuff, even if we really don’t give [...]

Conference Virgins and Conference Friends

In Thoughts and Rants on 6 March 2006 tagged conference, okcancel, sxsw, sxsw2006, sxswi, ted, ted2006 with 5 comments

At TED, they had a term called “TED virgin”. I can understand why they say that – it really is one of those experiences where you have to have been there to understand what it’s about. Some aspects are not unique to TED, however and the concept of a conference virgin is one of them. [...]