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Sacha-sense tingling

| friends, love

This is what it's like to be loved. =)

I was having one of my I-hate-being-an-international-student moments
when Dominique turned up online, telling me his Sacha-sense was
tingling. I was incoherent during the first half of our Skype
conversation, but he just kept listening to me and joking with me
until I felt better.

I don't think I'll wake up in time to go to IBM tomorrow, so I'll make
it up on Monday instead. I guess I'll work on the reading paper,
then…

Paper penguin

| family, love

My mom told me a totally warm-and-fuzzy story about paper penguins.
Awwww! She loves me very, very, very much. =D

Song, by Sara Teasdale

| love

Song

>

You bound strong sandals on my feet,
You gave me bread and wine,
And sent me under sun and stars,
For all the world was mine.

>

Oh, take the sandals off my feet,
You know not what you do;
For all my world is in your arms,
My sun and stars are you.

I am loved beyond my ability to comprehend

| love

… and it is the most beautiful thing in this world.

Love

Posted: - Modified: | love

I'm such a lucky girl to have such an amazing family. I love them sooooooooooo much.

Geek Love

| geek, love

Revision from Dominique Cimafranca:

One of the hallmarks of the stereotypical male computer nerd is his
ineptitude with members of the opposite sex. Especially those of the
attractive kind. Most especially those of the attractive and intelligent
kind. Just read one of the many strips of Dilbert which deals with the
subject.

Cliched as the image may be, there’s some truth to it nonetheless. I
should know. I am a stereotypical male computer nerd.

At one point, I wished out loud to my friends that I could meet a girl
that came with an instruction manual. I meant it in jest, what with women
being so complex and all. But apparently, there was such a girl—and no,
she was not of the inflatable kind.

In doing advocacy work for Linux, I wrote a series of articles on
prominent Linux personalities in the Philippines. One of the people I
featured was Sacha Chua, a programming wunderkind who was very much in
touch with the pulse of geekdom. Sacha was into Linux, Emacs, and
wearable computing. Certainly she made good copy, and several people
posted links to that article on my web site.

I conducted the interview via email so we didn’t really get to meet.
Nevertheless, she came across as very intelligent, very articulate, and
very personable in our email exchanges.

Sacha also maintained a wiki — a sort of a blog — where she placed all
her code and her essays. One of her entries was entitled “On Love”, a
tongue-in-cheek how-to to on courting geek girls, particularly, Sacha
Chua. Finally, a girl with an instruction manual. Was this the answer to
my wish, I wondered.

Humorous as the tone was, the instruction manual was in earnest about
Sacha’s views on courtship. At the top of the list was intelligent
conversation that would increase her stock of knowledge. Getting to know
her family was also important to her. Flowers, stuffed animals, and other
girly-girly stuff were a no-no. The bar was set high, but it also gave a
clear indication as to what kind of person Sacha was. Was I interested?
Absolutely!

Of course, I didn’t start courting Sacha on the basis of that manual.
Distance was a problem as I was based in the South and was travelling all
over. But we did strike up a friendship facilitated by email. Through
that I learned of her other interests in books, quirky movies, and
puzzles.

We finally met when I moved to Manila. We would see each other from time
to time. It helped greatly that we were both speakers at Linux seminars.
Sacha introduced me to her wonderful family. She also brought me into her
circle of friends, something I deeply appreciated because finally I met
people of like minds.

I realized that we had something special when we reached that most
intimate moment in a geek’s life: after a dinner date, I asked her to set
up computer for a demo that I was running the following day. She threw
herself at the task, completing in half an hour what I knew would have
taken me two hours. For a geek guy, well, that’s nirvana.

Even though I know Sacha far better than before, the how-to guide still
serves as a handy reference. On occasion, I take a peek at it to gauge if
I’m doing things right. Not too shabby, I must say.

Then again, you know you love someone when you know when to break her
rules. She was positively giddy about the Tux stuffed toy I gave her.

Some expressions of geeky love:

1) The Sacha Chua instruction manual –
http://sacha.free.net.ph/notebook/wiki/OnLove.php

2) Valentine’s Day Challenge
http://sacha.free.net.ph/notebook/wiki/2005.02.14.php
http://villageidiotsavant.blogspot.com/2005/02/love-as-acm-problem.html

E-Mail from Dominique Cimafranca

“Geek Love”

| geek, love

Dominique Cimafranca‘s submitting
this entry to an Inquirer contest. Awww, melt melt melt…

Geek Love

One of the hallmarks of the stereotypical male computer nerd is his
ineptitude with members of the opposite sex. Especially those of the
attractive kind. Most especially those of the attractive and intelligent
kind. Just read one of the many strips of Dilbert which deals with the
subject.

Cliched as the image may be, there's some truth to it nonetheless. I
should know. I am a stereotypical male computer nerd.

At one point, I wished out loud to my friends that I could meet a girl
that came with an instruction manual. I meant it in jest, what with women
being so complex and all. But apparently, there was such a girl—and no,
she was not of the inflatable kind.

In doing advocacy work for Linux, I wrote a series of articles on
prominent Linux personalities in the Philippines. One of the people I
featured was Sacha Chua, a programming wunderkind who was very much in
touch with the pulse of geekdom. Sacha was into Linux, Emacs, and
wearable computing. Certainly she made good copy, and several people
posted links to that article on my web site.

I conducted the interview via email so we didn't really get to meet.
Nevertheless, she came across as very intelligent, very articulate, and
very personable in our email exchanges.

Sacha also maintained a wiki — a sort of a blog — where she placed all
her code and her essays. One of her entries was entitled “On Love”, a
tongue-in-cheek how-to to on courting geek girls, particularly, Sacha
Chua. Finally, a girl with an instruction manual. Was this the answer to
my wish, I wondered.

Humorous as the tone was, the instruction manual was in earnest about what
Sacha was looking for. At the top of the list was intelligent
conversation that would increase her stock of knowledge. Getting to know
her family was also important to her. Flowers, stuffed animals, and other
girly-girly stuff were a no-no. The bar was set high, but it also gave a
clear indication as to what kind of person Sacha was. Was I interested?
Absolutely!

Of course, I didn't start courting Sacha on the basis of that manual.
Distance was a problem as I was based in the South and was travelling all
over. But we did strike up a friendship facilitated by email. Through
that I learned of her other interests in books, quirky movies, and
puzzles.

We finally met when I moved to Manila. We would see each other from time
to time. It helped greatly that we were both speakers at Linux seminars.
Sacha introduced me to her wonderful family. She also brought me into her
circle of friends, something I deeply appreciated because finally I met
people of like minds.

I realized that we had something special when we reached that most
intimate moment in a geek's life: after a dinner date, I asked her to set
up computer for a demo that I was running the following day. She threw
herself at the task, completing in half an hour what I knew would have
taken me two hours. For a geek guy, well, that's nirvana.

Even though I know Sacha far better than before, the how-to guide still
serves as a handy reference. On occasion, I take a peek at it to gauge if
I'm doing things right. Not too shabby, I must say.

Then again, you know you love someone when you know when to break her
rules. She was positively giddy about the Tux stuffed toy I gave her.

E-Mail from Dominique Cimafranca