Management

Today I had some time to work on our recommendation algorithms, and I made some good progress.  I was doing so well that I decided to work on it a bit more at home, but when I got on my computer and checked my email, I immediately got drawn into a series of management issues.  It made me think of what Shakespeare didn't write in Twelfth Night:

"Be not afraid of management: some are born to manage, some achieve management, and some have management thrust upon them." (not Act II, scene V)

Durian ice cream

Having lived in Taiwan for over three years, I don't taste something for the first time very often anymore.  But Anja and I went out to eat hot pot tonight, and they had a self-serve ice cream section with four unlabeled flavors.  We each got a scoop of chocolate chip, and a scoop of a yellow ice cream that looked like lemon or banana.  When I took the first bite, I thought to myself, "This tastes a little bit like durian."  When I took another bite, I thought to myself, "This is durian ice cream."  It was much sweeter than fresh durian – after all, it was ice cream – but it had the same flavor of garlic and meat.  I set the bowl aside, but after a few moments I had to have another bite to make sure it really was durian, partly because I've only eaten durian once (though the flavor is impossible to forget), and partly because it was just so hard to believe that anybody would actually want to make durian ice cream, let alone serve it to paying customers.  I kept setting the bowl aside and then eventually having another bite, and each time, the flavor was still durian.  Finally, I asked the waitress, who confirmed that I was right, and alleged that it was very healthy for women (obviously; otherwise, no one would ever eat it).

After I set my bowl aside for the last time, Anja, who had finished hers, asked if she could eat the rest of mine.

sss, ih, tuh, sit!

Big news in the Anja Reading department today, where Anja announced she wanted to read some words, and proceeded to pronounce out and read several words from The Cat in the Hat almost entirely by herself, with me only giving her the sounds of the vowels.  Among the words she read were "sit", "hop", "fun", "cup", and "now".  Anja said she is looking forward to when she is five, because then she will be able to read the whole book by herself.

Moo

Anja got some animal masks for Christmas.  Today, she complemented her cow mask by drawing a cow body – Holstein I would have thought – complete with tail (which she is holding).

Chocolate chip coconut oatmeal cookies

Our project today was to bake cookies!  I found some coconut flakes in the refrigerator, so I added them to my normal favorite of chocolate chip oatmeal.  Anja helped until she accidentally dumped the hand mixer and several cookies' worth of dough onto the floor.

You can fly!

Anja and I just watched Peter Pan, and she drew this picture of Peter Pan, Wendy, John, and Michael flying:

Note Peter Pan's hat, complete with feather, and John's top hat and umbrella.

Ugly but fascinating

One recent evening I was walking in Xindian, which is a densely populated city filled almost completely with dilapidated five-story walk-up apartment buildings from the 60's and 70's.  I have hated these buildings ever since I moved here, because they are ugly, dirty, and run-down, and more often than not have amateur and distinctly dangerous-looking electrical work running across the exterior walls.  But on this day, I looked up at these buildings and realized that they are historical.  They represent Taiwan's past, before its large-scale move into high-tech manufacturing triggered 20 years of rapid industrialization that resulted in the modern standard of living that people enjoy today.  So yes, they are ugly and horrible, but at the same time they are fascinating historical landmarks.  They make for interesting pictures too, in a Road Warrior sort of way.

Recommendation engine humor

This is almost what I do:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/desperate-pandora-employees-scrambling-to-find-son,17905/