keithtom.com

I think I’ve been a little too caught up in my programming and reading as of late. What I’ve been up to:

• columbus tech scene
  • dabbling in some erlang
  • checking out coworking spaces w/ craig
• reading 7 habits of highly effective ppl
  • ( highly recommended for introspection and self improvement, my buddy chris recommended me this one )
• europe planning
  • practicing french w/ gaby (if you are interested in learning a language, google ‘coffee break podcast’)
• taking zoe to the park

I also ended up going to a volleyball game that Gaby organized yesterday. Had a blast and really love the sport. I need to find a way to get something regular going.

Other things on my mind, I feel that petty crime has been going up here in Ohio. I don’t know if it is just my perception or if this is true. With a bad economy, I sometimes worry what happens when the poorer half get desperate.

Some misc. interesting links that I picked up along my reading / cleaning out my rss feeds:

• the possibilities of the Universe
  • this reminds me of how small I used to feel after some astrophysics lectures in CEGEP
• on Education vs schooling
  • a write up from my brother’s blog on the education system
• Tips to think better from a savant
  • stole this from kevin, really interesting to see how this guy thinks
• Firefox > Facebook?
  • the future of the browser and online experience…
• Seth Godin: you can change everything

didn’t think montreal was that hot for tech – apparently i’m wrong. this article gives the run down but the main point: now is the time to be an entrepreneur in montreal.

so far california has been great, but i gotta say i’m looking forward to being back in a comfy bed in columbus.

these days i’ve been doing a lot of reading and learning, which is already great. i’ve decided to make a separate programming blog and keep this one personal. i ended up using blogger cause i just wanted to get something up quick and i hate dealing with server issues.

i’ve also started looking into my france trip w/ gaby which is going to take a lot more planning. i’m currently deciding if i should be taking a longer trip and enjoying this opportunity, or if i should be conserving funds. either way, this trip will be low budget and that’s probably just cause its crazy expensive there. maybe i’ll get lucky with a student sublet. ca fait un long temps que je pratique mon francais ecrive et en plus, mon espagnol es tous melange avec mon francais parle.

some other random interesting things, i just realized youtube shows movies. not always amazing ones but i watched super size me on it. right now i’m watching the future of food on hulu (dont think it works in canada) but i can now say i hate monsanto a lot. its quite scary actually – what nature originally provided for free is now being perverted into something that depends on products from a company. sounds like if you screw up enough, we just wont be able to grow food anymore – like ever… for the whole planet. luvly.

one think that speaks to california’s amazing hacker culture: i attended a super happy dev house yesterday, which is like a warehouse filled with hackers just hanging out and coding. very cool place. free food and drinks. you can meet tons of interesting ppl.

its been a relaxing couple days. drove down to santa cruz with kevin, beau and his gf michelle. the drive was fun: a windy road, driven pretty hard in a WRX STI. and the beach of course was great, mostly relaxing in the sun and some frizbee. the ocean here is fierce.


Today I spent a good couple of hours biking the golden gate bridge in San Fran. I think I biked pass the wild parrots of telegraph hill. It was great exercise so I feel good about that.

view from golden gate out to the pacific


SF from golden gate

fyi niraj, i got a compliment on that shirt.

the hacker house at palo alto has been pretty chill. people just coming through here and leaving, from all different places. so its a cool chance to meet interesting ppl. it was a bit hectic at times though – i mean i think there were like 9 or 10 guys and a girl living in a 5 bedroom place – oh and a dog.

20$ bill under the milk?

I don’t even know how this happened, and no one in the house thinks they did it… just ridiculous.

dropped in on the facebook offices. took a quick drive by of stanford – i should probably go back and do it for real.

tomorrow, its back to real work.

so i’ve been here since monday and what a change from peru. if learning spanish has been hastened by being immersed in the language, coming here is like being immersed in tech, geek and startup… its awesome on many accounts.

i’ve been learning a ton and not even trying – just being exposed to whats out there and what some of these people are doing is both humbling and inspiring. you just have this feeling that anything is possible.

i’ve been meeting a lot of ppl, mostly programmers and exchanging ideas and learning. alsom reading a lot of blogs and catching up on technologies. these are exciting times.

i think im getting fed up with mephisto (my blogging software) and will try to move to a wordpress blog probably. they’ve got some nice stuff those php fellows.

i think that’s all for now. i might update this later.

amazing ted talk.

i honestly dont know why i like this so much; can’t be just because its cute.

i found it pretty easy to jump back into peru life. surprisingly easy – pretty much like i never left. there is something about this place that resonates with me. it feels right just walking the streets, almost like the whole place just makes sense. its hard to describe.

although, i have to say, for good or bad, lima is becoming increasingly americanized at an astonishing rate. i don’t very much like it. in fact, i don’t think i have many pics of lima because all the big malls and fancy places just make me feel like i’m in a fancy place in north america. good for lima i guess. but it feels like its headed for a consumer craze and i just don’t believe that will be good in the long run.

at least i was still able to do what i wanted, we went to the beach, ate some really tasty ceviche and had a ton of fresh fruit drinks. saw some friends but mostly family on this trip. we had some things planned out that just didn’t seem to work out, but i guess next time. this trip was more like living in peru than being a tourist (i.e. no dancing in the streets – although i did dance at this other festival and get to take an axe to a tree as part of the tradition).

my spanish improved greatly during this trip. i’ve reached a critical mass of vocabulary where i can learn most words from my existing ones. i can even talk on my own with strangers. i’m pretty happy about that. i want to start really learning with classes or rosetta stone. up till now, its been pretty informal – but my french has helped. it’d be nice/fun if i could learn another language but i guess i shouldn’t think about that yet…

i dont think i’ve had time to fully digest what it is i like here. and unfortunately i dont think i will get much time. i had to put this post up quickly because tomorrow, i’m headed for lima in the morning and traveling back to columbus at night. and just for a short while, because i’m off to San Francisco! I’ll be hanging out with some other hackers (including Kevin!! wewt) and probably doing the exact opposite of this peru life – i’ll probably be online 24/7 and totally connected. quite a contrast i’ve set myself up for, maybe it’ll help highlight what i like and dont like…

horseback riding


more pics