She asked me once the group had parted ways, “Are they dating?”

She gestured to the host and his female friend, walking up the hill in North Beach. At the moment of parting, they had shared a short glance of knowing. And it was a slight awkward moment when we realized she wasn’t going our direction even though her home was our way. I laughed and said, “That’s how things start anyway.”

Did lightning strike?

Or did I not know how to hold the camera still. There was a dog in the top window. Sitting alone.

A long time ago, I gave the cheapest slinky I found at a nearest game store. On the slinky, I wrote several things about the recipient. Being me, I somehow couldn’t keep it from smearing. However, when I finally gave it as a gift, the recipient was so overcome and said it was the greatest gift ever. He had always loved slinkys but never had one of his own.

I suppose, if it’s something that is still sitting on his bottom shelf today.

Yet what makes a great gift?

One gift in my memory was a platronics headset I got for Christmas more than 6 years ago. It was right at the tip of broadbandness. It was pre-Skype and pre-free-nationwide-distance. To me, it was a symbol of connectivity with the giver.

Of course though, I only used it periodically after that because nationwide distance came to play. I used it as my headphones for the following 2 years and occasionally as a microphone for an online “radio” show. It broke right before I got to Pittsburgh (on my first flight over incidentally).

Then there are the meaningful gifts. The trusts that my parents set up for my sister and me. The moments at lunch or dinner when a friend shoves my credit card and my cash back into my bag and says a loud firm NO to me. Or the simple holding the elevator doors for me when I am rushing into the building.

A recent gift was preceded by a statement: I just want you to you know that I put a lot of effort into finding things even if it doesn’t show. It’s not like I go to my table of random objects and go hmmm…what random object shall I turn into a gift today. I want you to think I did put a little bit of effort into your surprise. At the same time, don’t let your expectations go through the roof. It’s nothing too fancy.

Following by a lol.

But to my surprise, it was a chair. Not just any chair. But the Humanscale Freedom. Specifically, the task chair (not with the headrest). And what’s more, it’s the chair used in 24 at CTU. JACK BAUER USES THIS CHAIR. (When he actually worked in an office that is…)

Now with the 24 ctu ringtone and the chair, all I need is terrorists to fight. And some bit of “You must trust me.” And try not to get sent to Chinese prison.

“A pen is a personal thing,” the CEO (then) once said.

I believe it’s true, because I still hold my pens so tightly.

Seen in Berkeley near the cupcake shop. Now if I can only figure out what it is really trying to say. With the faint crossouts.

On Saturday in the mid-afternoon, we walked up the hills of Berkeley to the Big C. In an attempt to cross one of the things I must do before I am 30 list.

First we stopped by Safeway to pick up a 4pack of flavored sparkling water. Safeway brand, of course. Then we swung into the Hillside parking lot and started climbing the hills paved with rocks. At some point, we took the wrong turn. He said, “I think it’s this way.”

I willingly followed through the shortcut. Prickly leaves and weeds stabbing my shins because I decided not to wear socks, thinking that the trail would not be this…grassy. And it was warm anyway. But somehow we found ourselves in a thicket of grass on uneven soil. We started moving down the steep paths where I lost my balance several times. And putting out my right hand to catch myself. Fortunately I wasn’t still in a fragile state. I tumbled the rest of my way down. And when I got to the end, I said aloud in a sulky voice, “I am not doing that again.”

But then, I had a brillant idea of looking up the Big C on my phone. And to my surprise, on one of the search results, a picture loaded. He immediately knew where to go. And about 10 minutes later, we found it. Because of its angle, one cannot see it from below. We stood there. He tried sliding down, but unfortunately yes the paint was dry. We sat on a bench nearby taking in the view of the Bay in its busy stillness.

Then wild turkeys arrived. One buried its hand in the sand. The other gobbled into the air, hoping for a mate perhaps? They gobbled and he gobbled back. They responded, thinking he was one of their own. I tried to catch one, but they got away. And the rest of the turkeys sauntered away with knowing looks.

I never have candied something today until today. Earlier in the week at a friend’s dinner party, I was intrigued by the candied walnuts his sister made. So I decided I wanted to make my own. Interstingly, it didn’t even take that much time.

Only 1/2 cup of walnuts and 1/4 cup of sugar. I used white granulated sugar rather than the fine sugar. Regardless, heat a pan to medium heat. Toss in the sugar. I put in the walnuts too but I think it got too sticky by the end. It’s better to wait until the sugar turns into a brown liquidy color before tossing in the walnuts. Then toss the walnuts around the liquid until they’re well coated. Let them cool on aluminum foil with the walnuts separated. Then toss them in the salad. Mmmmm…goodness!

A few weeks ago, I went to the Front Porch—one of those hip restaurants near my apartment. Dark, pretentious music and a porch-like restaurant. The food wasn’t spectacular, but I am not sure if it’s because I just wasn’t in the mood for fried chicken. Or was the stress of the day getting to me? Or just because I was on the onset of a cold that I wasn’t feeling so fabulous?

Despite my recent foray in the Yelp world, I still can’t justify reviewing anything without giving something a thorough inspection. Sure, I can review the experiences where I am very pleasantly surprised. Or I can review the places that I had a horrible experience and would not return. But I believe any negative behavior is often a cause of coincidence and chance. And I would include that possibility. Nothing can be that black and white, right?

But to what point, can we hold a restaurant (for instance) accountable for poor service? What if there were two servers sick that day? What if their source of raw foods had issues in delivery? I know often we can say that it’s their responsibility because as customers we should expect the best. Yet I have always wondered what’s the difference from a restaurant from everything else? Can I hold friends accountable for unwanted negative behavior? Or do I need to go through a process of understanding? Or how about that person sitting next to me on the train? What if they never learned the appropriate social mores? Can I hold them responsible?

Earlier this year, I met a yelper who would review everything the moment after or during an experience. He even had a smart phone to help him. When is it going to far? Yelpers When are yelpers going overboard?

As we driving from Jack’s house (oh and what a wonderful dinner it was), I spotted an interesting type of reflector on the road.

The other side of the road—traffic going the opposite direction—had reflectors that looked red. The reflectors on our side of the road was the standard glowy white. I looked back on the red reflectors as we passed them and to my surprise, they were not red. They were white again. It was puzzling me and Chris said that it was because of the taillights on cars.

But no it wasn’t. Only one side of the reflector was red—the one facing opposing traffic. The rest of the reflector was all glowy white. Possibly to provide an affordance to help crazy drivers from driving on the wrong side of the road (I hope the designers had validated that drivers would really take notice of red reflectors and figure out they’re driving the wrong way).

So last month, on my way to find free pancakes from IHOP, I drove on the wrong side of the road for about a block. It was because I didn’t know there was a divider separating the road and it looked like a double lane road. I made a left and wondered why a car honked at me. Fortunately, no traffic was heading toward me. So by the time I realized (when I got to the intersection), I swung into the nearest driveway to correct my direction. However, would the reflectors have helped me? Better yet, what should have happened was that a “ONE WAY” sign could have been bigger, reflective and thus prominent.

I recently just started a new job where I got a nice title of user experience designer. Before, I was very hesitant at any titles that were interaction designers or usability analysts. It was too focused. And the worst—information architect—which implied a sad lonely life in front of a computer screen.

I came across the six species of information architect. Oddly enough, I am…one of those six. Perhaps more leaning toward the new kind of user experience. I do deal with a great amount of information. One of my major job responsibilities is simply to lay out the information in a clear and coherent way—often the main usability challenge.

I am a nouveau IA (fresh skin graduate types). But I am not a fresh undergraduate. And somewhat a combination of Usability IA. I come from a generation freshly schooled through user experience (and from those older IAs, as if UX can really be taught!) Yeah that’s right with my masters in human computer interaction, I can do anything!

Or at least, I like reading and thinking. Doing? That comes after I read and think. And attend that one conference. And the one after that…