Indistinguishable from Jesse

This will be my first year at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. I'm excited and nervous ;)

Update: I'll be sticking around for DEF CON, too.

Google launched a free 411 service just in time for my move from San Diego to Mountain View. I found it useful, but it could have been even more useful if it:

• Gave better location information for things in malls. For example, the Goodwill donation spot at 570 Showers Drive would be better described as "in the parking lot near Mervyns and near Showers Drive".
• Knew the difference between Goodwill stores and Goodwill donation spots.
• Knew how to answer questions like "Where can I find a Denny's along I-5 North within the next hour?", rather than simple city and radius searches.

Store hours would be nice too, but the service would also have to know when to say something like "Beach City Grill closes whenever the owner feels like closing, so you are advised to call before driving there."

Thanks to repeated trips within California, I now have credit for two one-way tickets between any Southwest cities in the continental US. The credit expires in February 2008. Where should I go, and when?

I was thinking of visiting Portland (plus Eugene), Seattle, or Boston (plus New York), since I have friends in each of those cities.

If I start at SJC and fly to Boston or New York, in which city should I attempt to get a 2-hour layover? I don't think I'd enjoy a direct flight and I know my laptop wouldn't.

If I don't use the credit on an interesting trip, I can use it next time I visit my parents in Los Angeles. But what would be the fun in that?

I hate my alarm clock.

I love Southwest Airlines.

I'm in Mountain View for another summer of working on Mozilla, this time as an intern at the Mozilla Foundation. Thanks to Ishani for helping me move into my new apartment.

My copy of Garey and Johnson arrived the other day. I wonder if it will make good airplane reading while I'm heading to Mozilla Developer Day next week.

I visited UCSD during Spring Break. I'm going to visit UCLA tomorrow (Tuesday) and UO Thursday and Friday.

Shortly after my plane took off from Long Beach Airport, I saw an empty parking lot that perfectly demonstrated the Zollner illusion.

Photos from the trip

On the flight back, I noticed that lakes and rivers looked colorful through my polarizing sunglasses. I don't have an explanation.