questions from saxikath

[totient]

1. I remember throwing snowballs at your window to make you come out and have a snowball fight with the rest of us, freshman year. What's one memory you have of that time that's particularly vivid?

The first one that comes to mind is of half a dozen of us up late at night doing problem sets and writing bad poetry on a Wednesday night in my dorm room, and getting sillier but somehow not any less productive as the night wore on.

2. I don't know much about the road rallying stuff you do. How'd you get into it?

When I moved back to Boston, I lived for a year with Will Turano, who was into various motorsports. He bought me to an autocross, which is a speed event on a short closed course, and then to a road rally, which is much more about math than it is about adrenaline. We did terribly on my first one, and my reaction is my usual problem-solving reaction: write a computer program to automate it. (This is in large part the approach I'm taking to running Arisia, too.) This I did, and itwe did well at the next few rallies -- and oddly, taking home a bunch of $5 plastic trophies seems to have been quite a motivating factor.

3. What brought you back to the Boston area after being away from it?

Uh, it's home? Mostly by that I mean that my friends are all here, but I also love that the city is bikeable and is also full of fascinating people who aren't (yet) my friends. Other contributing factors included that my job in DC, while intellectually stimulating, was rather dubious morally. I like to tell people that I held a Top Secret clearance for three days, with the implication being that I quit after learning something dreadful. Actually I had already given notice when the clearance came through, and never officially handled any TS material, though I inferred a few nasty things during that time that I'm sure are classified at that level.

4. Our friendly secretive organization have offered you the chance to fix one problem you see in your town. What problem do you fix, and why?

Wow, can I fix how tremendously and underlyingly racist Boston is? We can start by providing transit that actually connects black and white neighborhoods without two changes.

5. Why did you choose the job you have now?

When I interviewed at Permabit, Sam didn't give me a non-disclosure agreement, explaining that in his opinion they're not worth the paper they're printed on. Instead he picked up a pen and recited, "I wave the +3 wand of non-disclosure at you". I thought this was an organization that would have the agility I was looking for, and ultimately I was right, though it later turned out that Sam wasn't really part of the solution on that one.

You know how the meme works: comment here to get questions from me.

Comments

[dpolicar]

Hit me!

[saxikath]

Turnabout's fair play, so fire away. :)

[mangosteen]

Go for it.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

this is possibly my favorite recurring meme, so please consider this a request to participate :)

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

this seems like a good meme ... :)

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I love this meme and I don't think you've ever taken a turn asking me, so go ahead and serve 'em up!

[ceo]

ping!

[jiapa.livejournal.com]

Hey, just for starters, thanks for letting me know is on LJ so I can friend her.

Second, if ya aren't tired of thinking up questions, *ping*.

[saxikath]

Hey, you!!

[jiapa.livejournal.com]

So apparently the syntax is lj user="..." rather than lj-user="...". But that blank spot just above should be saxikath.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Oh sure, ask me a few if you like. :)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

(Not caging for questions, but thought I'd comment here anyway.)

Wow, can I fix how tremendously and underlyingly racist Boston is? We can start by providing transit that actually connects black and white neighborhoods without two changes.

More transit lines are something worth doing without regard to its effect on segregation. I remember your saying to me that Boston was one of the most segregated places you'd ever lived--and you'd lived in Los Angeles and DC--but that it wasn't merely racial, it was that I'd move in and find I was living next door to two web admins.

I thought that was a really great characterization.

I also loved the story about Sam and the +3 wand of non-disclosure. Always have.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

me please. questions about deguspice are fair game, since you don't know me nearly as well as you know him...

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

1. You've been at your current job for longer than the company has existed. What keeps you there?
   
2. You seem firmly reenmeshed in the theatrical world. What would be your next ideal project, and what would be your role in it?
   
3. Why Boston?
   
4. What would you describe as the biggest turning point in your life?
   
5. If you could communicate with your dog, what would you say?

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

1. What was the most interesting course you've taken in your educational career?
   
2. If you could have it to do again, would you pick Harvard? Why or why not? Assume for the purposes of this question that you'd have gotten in to any other college you might have applied to.
   
3. If you could install a teleport gate between any two points on the planet, what points would they be?
   
4. What do you get out of editing the Enigma?
   
5. What's the name of your secret organization, anyway?

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

1. You're a New Yorker. What do you most miss about the City, living up here in Boston?
   
2. You're visiting Japan, and you have room in your luggage to bring home exactly one Japan-only electronic gadget. What do you choose?
   
3. Which do you prefer to help you run your evil empire, minions or robots?
   
4. You're given retroactive veto power over any one bill passed at some point in US history. What law do you erase?
   
5. A venture capitalist approaches you with $5 million on good terms. What would your startup do?