From Paul Lussier:

One day, about 2 years ago now (Holy Cow! Sacha, has it been *that*
long? :) I stumbled upon this thing called emacs-wiki and
planner-mode. I fired off an e-mail to the maintainer asking a couple
of questions. Someone named Sacha answered back and had such
enthusiasm for my e-mail and my questions that i immediately joined
the list and started playing with planner and emacs-wiki.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! =) Melt, melt, melt.

E-Mail from Paul Lussier

I really do live here – perhaps not permanently, but I do. I know
because I have friends who know that I am less than perfect and not
always happy, but who are my friends anyway. Deep thanks go to Calum,
who joined me for dinner even though he doesn't like Indian food,
Steve, who scolded me for not calling him earlier, and many, many
others who would have undoubtedly picked me up, dusted me off and set
me on my feet, had I just asked (or perhaps even just looked a little
unhappy).

In particular, thanks to Calum for reminding me that the more I learn,
the more I can share with others. This is not the time for me to worry
about what to do for the world. This is the time for me to absorb as
much as I can from it, and do whatever goodness I can along the way.

E-mail addresses removed. But it's the real Stephen J. Turnbull… =)

From: "Stephen J. Turnbull"
Subject: Re: TODO extension for source code and Emacs
To: tlug (Tokyo Linux Users Group)
Date: Wed Jan 18 14:17:40 2006 +0800

>>>>> "Ian" == Ian Wells (ijw) writes:

    Ian> Actually I was hoping for something that understood
    Ian> todo-lists (i.e. allowed you to tick stuff off and add
    Ian> unrelated items) but I think I may be fantasising.

(a) [the helpful answer] Find Sacha Chua (TLUG denizen), this is up
her alley.

Will write a good reply on the plane.

E-Mail from Stephen J. Turnbull

 did you catch my message on livejournal? :D
 Hmmm, gotta check... Which entry?
 i was asking if i could add you to my friends page, as
              (shh don't tell sacha) secretly i admire your
              organization and thought-keeping skills.
 the one right before your most recent one.
  Go ahead and add me. I'll add you too so that you can
see my disorganized unkept thoughts. =)
 to tell you the truth, after reading your lj and recent
              wiki entries, it got me writing again
 That's good to hear! =D
 oh, and also, i wanted to congratulate you on your
              relationship (i know it's late) - it caught me off
              guard, especially as i only found out through your
              latest post
 i'm still on sacha i-will-never-have-a-boyfriend mode @_@
 
 Thanks.
 anyway, back to topic - i really admire how you have
              these huge lists on your wiki - and at the end of the
              day you've crossed them all out.
 in spite of everything you do, in spite of all your
              interests and such.
 Heh. Not today--only a few non-essential things crossed out...
 that's really admirable. even though i haven't had the
              pleasure of picking apart brains with you for long, i
              really respect that.
 The lists are actually just lists of things I do, and part of
         my interests.
 (I keep them written down because I'll otherwise forget them.
         Besides, it's nice to see crossed-out stuff.)
 but still, you're able to accomplish most of them! the
              past few years haven't been kind to me (long story) and
              i've hit a lot of slumps
 i find it hard to complete even stuff i'm interested in
 so those times i wander off to your wiki to be inspired.
 The trick is to make the tasks so small that it's easier to
         finish them than to procrastinate... ;)
 but shh, don't tell anyone :P
 exactly.
 that's what i do these days.
 I keep a couple of important stuff around so that I can do
         the other tasks while procrastinating the bigger tasks...
 ... and when I do get those spurts of productivity, I just
         work through my list, trying to make the most of it. =)
 (I'm really not that organized or productive; I just _look_
         it because it's written down somewhere. =) )
 semantics. it's inspired me all the same. and i'm sure
              the same is true for a lot of people. ^_^
 I'm glad to hear that. =)
 I'm really glad to hear that I sometimes help you get out of
         your slumps. =D

… after some more conversation …

 i guess i wish i could replay that time and appreciate
              the study more. and the teaching. you have a lot of
              passion for it, and it shows brilliantly.
 i'm sorry it took me so long to say that, but there it is. ^^;;
  Thank you. That means a lot to me.

GoodKarma

<comfrey_> i spent most of this past weekend reading the elisp manual because planner.el is sucking me in

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww… =)

Doc Sarmenta story. I arrived at F228 a little too early for my 3:00 CS21A class, and I ran into Dr. Sarmenta packing up. Some students asked him if they could consult with him, but as he'll be fairly busy due to Faculty Day, I volunteered to meet them instead. Got introduced as Sacha Chua, one of the head TAs around here. I replied, “We have head TAs?” Dr. Sarmenta continued, “She does most of the stuff.” :D

Volunteered to conduct CS21B tutorials at 10:00 AM tomorrow, F230.

Doc V story. Had thorny discrete mathematics problem that I needed help with. Doc V stumped. :) Actually, talked about problem with Eric over dinner, and he had a nifty insight that greatly simplified the problem.

Doc Sarmenta story. Presented thesis proposal. Earned “That's very exciting” comment. :)

Gino story. Gloated about the fact that my thesis is humanitarian, useful, involves Linux, and doesn't have a GUI. Wooohooo! :D