Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
Today I had much fun. I met Steve and…
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2002 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Today I had much fun. I met Steve and his friend Michelle at brunch at Crepe de Vine on Shattuck and we had a fun conversation. Steve gave me Christmas presents: three "tacky" bookmarks, and four books that had been on my wishlist:
- Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End
- William Gibson's Count Zero
- Gibson's Neuromancer
- Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive
Thanks, Steve!
As we were eating, Shweta, Nathaniel, and two of their friends walked in. After Steve and Michelle left, I continued talking and hanging out with the new crowd. Nathaniel even helped me out with my Hofstadter problem of yesterday. One new friend, Dan, is on a Peace Corps term in the Ukraine, and we conversed a bit in Russian; with the other, Zachary, I conversed at length about software, religion, and other mutual interests. (He once submitted NetHack nonkitten items to the robotfindskitten project.)
I wrote all this while on hold with Pac Bell. I am still on hold with Pac Bell. I called PG&E twenty minutes ago and, in five minutes, arranged for my electricity and natural gas service to end on 31 January. Pac Bell, on the other hand, twice has tried to get me to opt-in to talk about other products and services from the SBC "family."
Okay, I'm not on hold anymore. I'm talking to a person. This is good.
Done. My phone service here will no longer exist as of sometime in the morning of 31 January 2002. "Sharon" thanked me for being "such a wonderful customer." I wonder if they say that to everyone, not just the ones who pay their bills on time.
