ICB: About

About myself

For the spanish versions, please click here.

"In an uncharacteristic fit of humility (and fueled partially by lack of cycles to spare) this page is currently empty."

Was that me who wrote that? OK, humility schumility.

Though currently spending a couple of months with the family back in Lima, Peru (where I hark from), I am actually in wandering mode (as of last August, in fact). No home. Really.

In a former life, I used to work at Avid Technology where I was the lead on VideoShop, their QuickTime-based video editor and other products which (to regurgitate the cliché) I could tell you about but then I'd have to kill you. Before that I was one of the people founding DiVA Corporation (where VideoShop originated), before then I spent four short months at GCC Technologies (from which alums are doing all kinds of cool things, from VideoGuide, Inc.'s, um, VideoGuide to helping build that invaluable tool for Mac web hacks, BBEdit) doing color science and the like and before that I was engaged in real-world-avoidance exercises (aka school).

I guess that was what my junior-high English teacher called a run-on.

I'm on the net since, oh, 1987 or so, when my stay at MIT was almost derailed by my discovery of the Usenet time sink and Kappa Sig's upside down margaritas (a passion which has now been redirected to mojitos, Pisco Sours, and single malts). While there I did actually manage to do some cool work here and there: working at the Media Lab on the Vivarium project (on a programming-toy/tool called HookUp), and at the MIT-Sloan School of Manglement on Glen Urban and Bruce Weinberg's Information Accelerator. While there I also started and admin'ed a mailing list for Peruvians overseas (overseas from Peru, that is) which served a bit as petri dish for Red Cientifica Peruana, who finally brought TCP/IP to Peru and is now the local co-op ISP (cheapest one in Latin America thanks to their co-op nature) and my link back to the net at large. In fact, if they offered WWW hosting services, this site would be living there. That being said, being on the wrong side of a country-wide 512kbps (two 256kbps satellite beams) link to the net at large can be very painful, especially around lunchtime in the U.S. when everyone and his brother is getting the latest update on The Spot and surfing the net feels worse than trudging along I-93 into Boston in the morning. Preemptive multitasking was never more sorely missed - I could do something useful while I wait, like play HAVOC or something.

Since before heading out I lived in both Boston and the People's Republic of Cambridge for about ten years or so, I collected a number of favorite hangouts. Bookgeek that I am I was desperately and terribly in love with now-defunct Barillari Books. While WordsWorth and Waterstones are excellent (and Quantum irreplaceable for geeks), Barillari is sorely missed. I'm a self-confessed (as opposed to other-confessed) coffee addict, and the area offers a multitude of choices, bouncing between Algiers, Vittoria, Bookcellar and 1369 Coffee House, this last one being my favorite. Though Liberty Cafe is also kind of cool (and they have net access), they distribute propaganda from dem dang commies, the Maoist Internationalist Movement. No can do. Besides, 1369's lattes are, like, way better, the people are nicer, and they have a string of plugs along the wall for you to park your Powerbooks. Redbone's (Somerville, really) offers killer southern barbecue, and though Jake and Earl's in Cambridge (and the neighboring East Coast Grill, which shares their kitchen) has better food, Redbone's has style - or rather, lack thereof, as appropriate for barbecue. Plus you get to drink your lemonade in pickling jars, and they host readings for that favorite of smut-hounds, Paramour magazine. Oh, can't forget: The Cellar in Cambridge has far-and-away the best (and cheapest at $2.25) pint of Guinness in the Boston area (IMNSHO). And a clientele disproportionaly composed of au pairs.

Cyberspacewise I tended to hang around comp.sys.mac.programmer.*, alt.internet.media-coverage, comp.org.eff.talk, rec.arts.comics.alternative, among others. Netnews is too big a timesink now, so I tend to spend my meager discussion-group time on the WELL's media, eff, web, mac, and books conferences.

Interests.

Oh yeah, interests (this is starting to feel like a yearbook entry; better kill it soon): Reading voraciously, having accumulated far too many books for my own good (one thing the anti-net-pro-book-advocates miss is that books are heavy). Music in a semi-eclectic vein, ranging from Monk to Susan Werner to NWA to Stickmen to En Vogue to Juan Luis Guerra with a smattering of classical. Writing (fiction and non-fiction alike) when I have the time, inspiration and inclination (I get all three less often than I'd like). Biking, though that has suffered lately (what with my bike being in storage in Cambridge while I figure where I land next and riding a bike in Lima being only slightly less dangerous than vacationing in Chechnya).

Oh, if you want the obligatory list of links, they're here.