John Hennessy was welcomed yesterday evening as the 10th President of Stanford University. The event was held in the Imperial Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel, located at 170 South Market Street in San Jose. The reception was hosted and sponsored by a number of Stanford organizations, including:

• Bay Area Cardinal Young Alumni
• Bay Area Professional Women
• Friends of the Stanford University School of Education
• Northern California Black Alumni
• Northern California Chicano/Latino Alumni
• Parents Advisory Board Regional Representatives
• Silicon Valley Engineering Alumni
• Silicon Valley Reunion Class Volunteers
• Stanford Alumni of San Jose
• Stanford Asian/Pacific American Alumni
• Stanford Club of Los Gatos/Saratoga
• Stanford Cllub of Palo Alto
• Stanford Gay & Lesbian Alumni
• Stanford Law Society of Silicon Valley
• Stanford Nurse Alumnae
• Stanford Student Alumni Network
• The Peninsula Major Gifts Committe

Quite a list, but it had to be considering the kind of and amount of food and drink that they were serving at the hotel. A couple of open bars and loads upon loads of sushi greeted the Stanford Alumni as they passed attendees of a gaming convention to reach the Imperial Ballroom. I don’t know how much money they put down to host this event, but it must have been quite the bill! I counted past students from the Class of 1942 all the way to the most recent class of 2000. It was, by my estimation, predominantly an older crowd that attended the event to eat, socialize, and listen to John Hennessy, though I did see some of my friends from my days on the Farm, including Erin Turner, Neil Menzies, and Denise Morris.

Being John Hennessy

Hennessy is perhaps best known as one of the co-founders of MIPS Computer Systems, now known as MIPS Technology, Inc., a company specializing in microprocessor design and production. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University in 1973. In 1975 and 1977, he gained his master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Prior to becoming Stanford’s 10th President, succeeding the popular Gerhard Casper, Hennessy held the position of Provost, Stanford’s chief academic and budget officer. Before that, Hennessy served as the Dean of Engineering at Stanford.

He succeeds three former Presidents who were all grounded in the Humanities and Sciences. Many people wondered at the time of his selection, undoubtably at one of the heights of the Internet Age, if the Humanities and Sciences would suffer during his tenure as President. Last night, Hennessy reiterated the importance of those disciplines, making a few humorous references to the current energy crisis and technology slowdown to accentuate his points.

The speech was interrupted several times, not by former Band members screaming for the Cardinal to beat Cincinnati this evening in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, but by Stanford Alumni appreciative of Hennessy’s comments. He doesn’t have quite the humor or charm that Gerhard Casper, the only President of Stanford that I ever knew during my college days, possessed, but I think that Hennessy will do a good job. Although we’re in a technology slowdown, I think that it’s important that we bring the University up to speed to the 21st century, more so than any other college or university in the nation. The Humanities and Sciences, far from being squeezed out by technology, can stand to benefit the most from such a movement. Hennessy, with his background and experience in the Valley, might turn out to have been a great choice. Time will tell, and he has many difficult issues to wrestle with, including the housing crunch and the shrinking endowment.

Photographic Musings

Photographic conditions within the ballroom were, as to be expected, difficult. The lighting was dim, which forced me to use my 50mm f/1.4 wide open at very low shutter speeds. I’m always hesitant to push the camera to ISO800, due to the great increase in noise over ISO100-400, though I did it for a few shots that evening. I tested out using the RAW format of the D30 as well, though the speed at which it takes to download to and process the images on my computer will probably prevent me from doing that in the future. I didn’t use flash for much of the evening, which probably would have proven distracting for the attendees as Hennessy gave his speech. I was suprised that, amongst the crowd, there was no official photographer shooting the event, something I later I confirmed with the lady responsible for organizing the event

For starters, no, I didn’t go to the Pink Slip Party looking for a job, but for a great photo opportunity.

I had heard about the party the day before from a co-worker, who heard about it herself from workIt. Thinking that it would be a good opportunity for shooting, I decided to attend on Wednesday following the usual workday. I figured a couple hundred people would be attending the event, which was to be held at the Blue Chalk Cafe in chic Shallow Alto… err… Palo Alto. The event was organized and sponsored by a few companies, including Docent, a provider of products and services enabling knowledge exchange between enterprises, educational content providers and professional communities, sfGirl.com, and sfbayhappyhour.com.

The event began officially at 5:00 pm, but I wasn’t able to arrive until 6:45 pm. Driving into Palo Alto seemed busier than ever, and when I drove by 630 Ramona Street where the Blue Chalk is located, I realized why the traffic was so congested — everyone was attending the Pink Slip Party! After a number of circling attempts, I ended up parking about five blocks south on Ramona Street. There was a line outside of the Blue Chalk that practically snaked around the street corner; fortunately for me, I escaped the pleasure of standing in line when I flashed my camera and told the people manning the lines that I was going to shoot the event. There are indeed good things about having a camera by your side and being part of the press! I’m reminded of a line from the opening gambit of the MacGyver episode, Thief of Budapest, “It’ll get you in and out of places.”

Hundreds of people were crowded into the Blue Chalk Cafe on Wednesday evening. I would wager that, in total, over a thousand people attended the Pink Slip Party. It would have been great to have interviewed the attendees to determine how they found out about the event. I became aware of it through word of mouth, which is what I am guessing how most people heard about it. A year ago, a crowd of this size would have been reserved for a company that just went through a skyrocketing IPO. My how times have changed when Loudcloud, the company run by former Netscape founder, Marc Andressen, barely makes a whimper on the IPO circuit a week ago.

At the Blue Chalk, the the crowd was an interesting cross-section of individuals working and living in the Silicon Valley. I was able to identify three main groups of people at the party, identified primarily by what was on everyone’s name tag:

• Red Dot: Job seeker looking for employment
• Green Dot: Company recruiter seeking talent
• No Dots: Lurker enjoying the beer and atmosphere

And no, there weren’t any DoDots in the crowd. What I did see, however, were plenty of business cards being exchanged and an equal number of beaming going on between Palm handhelds. Interestingly enough, I didn’t see any RIM Blackberry devices at the event; at the Demo 2001 Conference last month in Phoenix, the majority of people were wielding Blackberries as opposed to Palms. With this crowd, Palm devices prevailed, and there wasn’t a Microsoft PocketPC in sight.

Networking was in the air, as red dots talked to green dots and green dots hawked their resumes to red dots. There were a number of people dressed to impress, either via suits or strange outfits. I’m not sure if they made the right impression on the red dots, but they certainly made for good portrait models and interesting character studies. As the drinks flowed I think less and less people were concerned with finding a job and more interested in hooking up! I figure that in the Silicon Valley, finding a romantic partner is much more difficult than finding a job! Fortunately, job seeking at events such as the Pink Slip Party can serve the double function of a matchmaking event. Green dot, red dot, or no dot — it doesn’t matter what you are when it comes to love!

Photographers and Journalists

As I began shooting scenes and people, I began to notice an increasing number of photographers in the crowd, and all of them were porting some form of SLR (single lens reflex) camera. There was one woman with a Nikon D1 digital-SLR, outfitted with what looked like an ultra-wide angle lens. Another young lady had a Canon EOS-1v or EOS-1n and was switching between two lenses, which I believe were a 70-200mm f/4.0L and a 24mm f/1.4L. I don’t know how she managed to take non-blurry photos with the 70-200, but she probably had some great results with the 24mm, which is a fine lens with an enormous aperture that allows her to take photos in very little light. I had brought along my Canon D30 and was flipping back and forth between the 50mm f/1.4 and the 17-35mm f/2.8L. The lighting situations were difficult at the Blue Chalk, due to the high ceilings and dark lighting. I cursed myself a number of times for forgetting to bring a Sto-Fen OmniBounce for my 420EX Speedlite; I won’t make the same mistake the next time I shoot an event. The young lady had a makeshift light reflector, whereas the D1 photographer had a slide-out reflector attached her large flash unit.

March 18, 2001 Update: I looked up the picture of her lens in my Canon lens brochure, and it turns out the female photographer was wielding the 70-200mm f/2.8L instead of the 70-200mm f/4.0L. The 2.8 has a smaller zoom ring than the 4.0 and doesn’t bulge at the top as much as the 4.0. Rumor has it that Canon is about to release an image-stabilized 70-200 f/2.8L. If she was using one of them, that might explain how she was able to take some good shots with that lens given the lighting conditions.

There was another guy with a film-based Nikon unit, with his flash rigged to a mounting bracket. I spoke to him briefly and learned that he had shot less than a roll of film. When I finished, I realized that I had burned through about 150 photos, the equivalent to 6 rolls of 24 exposure film. Wow. Digital, I must repeat, changes the way photography is done! Finally, I didn’t see any point-and-shoot cameras at the event, though I’m sure that some people were carrying and using them throughout the evening. Last night, after all, was a great opportunity to take some fantastic scenes, portraits, and group shots.

Along with the photographers, I noticed a number of journalists, or at least journalist-looking people, at the party. One of them, a writer for the San Jose Mercury News, didn’t want her photograph taken. Guess she didn’t want the attention of seeing her celebrity face on the Internet! All of these people were furiously scribbling notes, not on Palm handhelds, but on pads of paper. Part of me is sad that the Newton didn’t succeed, since that was (and still is) an excellent device for taking notes, either handwritten in digital ink or computer recognized. After all the criticism was leveled on the Newton after its inception, much of it warranted, the product did become quite useful and powerful; unfortunately, the negative connotation it had acquired, coupled with the Palm tidal wave, was too much for poor Newton to overcome. Perhaps those heady days, much like the days of the Internet gold rush, are destined to come again.

The media in the form of Channel 5 Eyewitness News was also on hand at the Blue Chalk, interviewing a number of red dots and green dots throughout the evening.

Layoffs

How far can the stock market go down? How much more pain will high-tech companies have to endure before brighter times beckon? Has the great dot-com boon gone dot-bomb? Companies around the Silicon Valley are laying off people left and right; if you’re reading this photomusing, chances are you know someone who has been recently let go at his or her company (if it hasn’t happened already to you). It might even be something on your mind at your company; have you been looking around, over your shoulder, and in meetings at your co-workers, wondering which ones will be selected to stay and which ones will be leaving?

During the great Internet years in the mid to late 90’s, companies were hiring talent as quickly as they could find them. With millions upon millions of dollars invested in these companies, they practically had a mandate to grow and expand enormously; money and revenues, they figured, would come at a later date, when the company and/or product had become a brand-name and secured its place within the marketplace. Many of these companies probably figured that ad revenue, generated by enormous amounts of web traffic, would be the ticket to wealth on the Internet. Today, these companies, if they are still around, are laying off people in droves; even established and seemingly untouchable companies such as Cisco have been compelled to reduce their workforce.

I’d like to think that as many jobs are being removed, there are an equal number of jobs becoming available. Startups are dying left and right, yes, but aren’t there more and more startups launching everyday? They might be shying away from the profile of big name former startups such as Yahoo! or Netscape, lurking in the backgrounds and and ready to make their big break — or big fall — in the marketplace. As an optimist, I believe that in these apparent dark times, there’s opportunity waiting, for those of who can identify and take advantage of it.

Final Thoughts

Attending the Pink Slip Party was an eye-opening experience. I was able to see first-hand, how the effects of the economy and stock crash have manifested themselves in companies around the Silicon Valley. Hundreds of people, many of whom were looking for jobs, came to this event in Palo Alto in hopes that perhaps, something might happen that would restart their careers. I’m not sure how many of them found what they were looking for, but I’m certain that they had fun looking. These events are great for the Valley; they bring together people from the industry, not under some competitive umbrella, but under an umbrella of understanding and empathy.

I’m hoping that these Pink Slip Parties are not going to become a common occurrence, as that would signal some pretty sad times here in the Valley; that being said, this was, I believe, the fifth Pink Slip Party in the Bay Area, which is never a good sign. Then again, everyone seems to have a great time whenever the pink slips fly… so I guess, let’s keep bringing ‘em on!

Photos

Here’s a few more photos that I took at the Pink Slip Party this evening. Names have been removed from name tags to protect the innocent.

PEF began a few years back by Brian Hall, who is the head of Mark/Space Softworks, a software firm in the Bay Area. The forum caters to Palm entrepreneurs, allowing them to share ideas and ask questions such as methods to boost business or choosing the right software distributor or provider.

We had a turnout of about 11 people, from various industries within the Palm Economy. My co-workers, David and Carl, also rounded out the group, which included long-time Palm developers such as Steven Pratt from Stevens Creek Software. Over pitchers of beer and munchies, the group discussed various issues concerning the Palm developer, including how to boost sales, getting help from Palm, and organizing a consumer trade show for Palm products.

In many ways, I see the handheld industry as still being in its infancy. Only 11 million Palm devices and a few million of other handheld computers are out on the market today, compared to the hundreds of millions of computers being used worldwide. This nascent industry is poised to grow tremendously in the next few years as more and more people acquire handheld, portable devices. The question is, how does one take advantage of this young industry in a way to better the community and industry and to better one’s own personal and financial well-being?

This photomusing is not intended to be a discourse on how to make it big in the handheld industry. That being said, I would like those who are reading this musing to think proverbially outside the box for a moment. As a developer, or someone or might be interested in making a career in the handheld industry, what are the reasons that you’re doing what you are doing? Is it for fame, fortune, or both? Do you have a solid plan of action and a schedule? Are your reasons perfectly clear or are you going by the seat of your pants? Do you have someone to help you, to answer those common questions that are bound to come up?

Man, that sounds like the opening sequence to the A-Team TV show from the 1980s! If so, you need the Palm Entrepreneur’s Forum! Seriously though, if you’re looking to make a change, make sure that you do so knowing, more or less, what you’re getting into. Find someone who’s been in the industry for awhile, someone that you respect, and get their feedback on their experiences. It’s nothing to get the advice of those who have walked the path upon which you’ll be travelling.

On Saturday, March 3, 2001, I drove up to the Oakland area to attend a camera show that was being held at the Scottish Rites Temple at 1547 Lakeside Drive, in Oakland, right across from Lake Merritt. The last time that I went to this camera show, which is held periodically throughout the year, was some time before May, 1999. The Phantom Menance, the prequel to the Star Wars trilogy, was about to come to the silver screen, and at the time, I was completely sucked into all the euphoria surrounding the movie. I came to the camera show looking for a Graflex flash gun handle, the same kind used to make Luke Skywalker’s lightsabre in A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. I didn’t find it there, as those flash gun handles are very difficult (or expensive) to find on the market. What I did find was that there seemed to be many more dealers at the camera show then than there were in 2001. It’s possible that the Internet is squeezing the small retail shops out of business, a fact pointed out to me by an artist, Tim, who was selling filters at the show.

There’s definitely been a lot of photographic equipment built and sold over the years. Unfortunately, the majority of such equipment, useful for antique or classic film-based photography enthusiasts, wasn’t of much use to me. There were only a handful of lenses for the EOS cameras by Canon, which is what my D30 is based upon. There was a 70-200 mm lens that I was looking at for $850, but I wasn’t planning to spend that much money on a lens whose usage history I knew nothing about. There was a dealer selling a new 35 mm f/1.4, but he was a little too boorish and antagonistic for my tastes; to look up “his” price, he referred to BH Photo and Video’s price in a magazine. “$1350 for that lens. You name me your price, and we’ll talk!” Uh, I don’t think so.

In a way, I felt like I was in a junkyard not unlike Watto’s in The Phantom Menace on Saturday. There was plenty of “junk” littered across the tables at the show. What I would declare as junk might have priceless to someone else there. And, that appeared to be the case, as there was plenty of haggling and squabbling over prices and equipment.

Like with any passion or hobby, things can start to get very pricey. I look back at the interests that I have, in backpacking, photography, and cycling, not to mention technology, and just note that, man, these are expensive interests!

Walking the Streets of Oakland

Nearing the end of the camera show, I began to get ready to leave. I had just finished taking a panorama shot of the showroom floor when I was stopped by a gentleman, Mike. He asked me what kind of camera I had, to which I replied, “It’s the D30 from Canon.” Tim, the dealer from whom I purchased a 77 mm 0.6 ND filter, had the same response as Mike did, which was one of genuine curiosity and interest. Digital wasn’t exactly a big thing at this camera show, so when people realized that I had a digital SLR, their eyes lit up and the questions began. The D30, along with the Fuji S1 and the Nikon D1, are beginning to change the landscape of 35 mm photography. In a few years, expect to see the prices drop to a point where the cost-conscious consumer will have access to digital cameras with quality rivaling their film-based brethren. Film purists aren’t going away anytime soon, but they’ll have to adapt, lest they go the way of the dodo or dinosaur.

I met my friend, Judy, at 4:00 pm outside of the Scottish Rites Temple. Before we could leave, however, we were approached by a couple, Mike and Allison, who wanted to know what kind of digital camera I had, which they initially thought was a Nikon D1. Mike was interested in moving from his manual focus film camera to an autofocus one; if he were to do that, maybe he would bite the bullet and go digital. I encouraged him that this was the way to go, and I’m looking forward to hearing back from Mike after he’s purchased a new digital SLR!

Judy and I walked the streets of Oakland, eschewing the car in favor of our legs. Walking through a city, be it San Francisco, New York, Paris, or even Oakland, can be a magical experience. Some people might favor the open space of the country, but there are an equal number of people who enjoy the big buildings, the sometimes claustrophobic feel of the big city. For me personally, I enjoy Paris much more than I do San Francisco or New York. Walking in Oakland brought back some of those feelings that I had when in Paris or Hong Kong, especially when Judy and I ventured into Chinatown.

As we started our walk, we even passed by this house along Lake Merritt that belonged to the brother of Leland Stanford, the founder of Judy and my university, Stanford University! We passed by a number of Oakland landmarks, such as the main Oakland Post Office, the public library, Hotel Oakland, and Oakland’s Chinatown. Along the way, we stopped by a creperie, which was unfortunately closed at the time, and saw a number of interesting vehicles and people. Having someone accompanying me on my adventures also made picture taking a lot easier. Believe me, it’s much easier to ask someone to take a picture of than having to lug around and set up a tripod! I have to thank Judy for having the patience to deal with my constant interruptions, “Please, would you take a picture?” Unfortunately, she requested that no pictures be taken of her, a request to which I complied. Perhaps next time!

Sushi Zone

For dinner, Judy and I decided… or maybe I decided… that we would gorge ourselves on sushi. I toyed around with the idea of going to the market to buy some fresh foot-and-mouth diseased pork or some spongiform encephalitis beef, but I quickly came to the conclusion that raw fish would be a better dining choice.

We had dinner over at Sushi Zone, located at 388 9th St. Suite 268, in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza in Oakland. Sushi Zone is a hip sushi restaurant whose decor has a simple, clean and modern look. When we were seated at our table, I placed my camera on the tabletop, at which time a number of the workers crowded around and began asking me questions about the camera. What I found fascinating was that, in a Japanese restaurant, everyone was speaking Catonese Chinese! It turns out the proprietor of Sushi Zone, Dennis, was from Hong Kong; when he opened Sushi Zone about two and a half years ago, he made the decision to open a hip, Japanese restaurant in lieu of the standard traditional-fare Chinese restaurant.

Judy and I spoke with Simon, one of the workers at Sushi Zone, at length about the D30. I was able to even get some pictures taken of the restaurant and the employees there! I remember when I was in France, standing in front of the ice skating rink, when a couple of little French kids skated up to me and asked to take pictures of them. A camera, especially a digital one, can be a great conversation starter!

Talking with Simon and his co-workers, as well as the wonderful conversation with Judy made the whole dining experience one to remember. The sushi was plump and delectable, and the tempura udon soup that I had was not bad; it’s always better when they serve the tempura in a plate next to the soup, instead of dumping the pieces into the soup before serving. It helps to prevent the soggy tempura syndrome, the bane of many tempura udon lovers worldwide!

Following a scrumptious and very filling dinner, Judy and I went down to an ice cream shop to continue our feast! I had an enormous double scoop of Lychee and Coconut ice cream, on a sugar cone of course, and Judy had a single scoop of Durian, also on a sugar cone. It was, as I’m fond of saying, very yummy, yummy, for my tummy! We could barely walk afterwards, but we managed to drag ourselves back to the car, which I parked next to the Scottish Rites Temple. As I drove Judy back to her place, I managed one more minor faux-pas, turning and going up a one-way street in the wrong direction! Luckily, there wasn’t anybody around who saw our mistake, unless you count the guy on the street who was gesticulating his arms wildly at us!

On March 1, 2001, my group from Palm went to the Kobe Restaurant on El Camino Real, off of San Tomas Expressway, for a lengthy and scrumptious lunch. (Photos taken with a Canon D30 with 50 mm and 17-35 mm lenses)

On March 1, 2001, I attended Homestead’s talent show held at the Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto. I witnessed a group of Internet dot-commers enjoying a moment away from work, sharing their “other” interests in life. Afterwards, a great discussion with Randy and Jeff on the business and philosophy of life in the cold on the streets of Mountain View. (Photos taken with a Canon D30 with 50 mm and 17-35 mm lenses)

I remember being in a talent show in elementary school; back then, it was more like show and tell with my fellow classmates, where we brought our stuffed animals and toys for all to see. I quite don’t remember what I actually did back then, but I certainly remember not singing like Britney Spears nor reciting any poetry! However, at the Homestead Talent Show, held at the Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto, there certainly was that and more! My friend, Randy, currently works at Homestead, and it was he who invited me to come over to the talent show.

The show started at 7:00 pm. At 8:00 pm, I was just getting ready to leave the office in Santa Clara. As I was driving home, I debated whether or not to attend; after all, I was tired from a long day at work, and I wanted to give the injured right arm some more rest. Friendship prevailed, however, and I continued driving past the usual exit on my way to Palo Alto. I arrived near the tail end of the Talent Show, but I was still able to see Randy and his co-workers do an excellent rendition of, what I figure was either an N’Sync or Backstreet Boys music video parody. That wasn’t the end of it, as Randy topped it all with his excellent Britney Spears’ lip syncing skills. Personally, I would have rather he have sung, Lucky, but you can’t win them all, right?

I tested oout my new lens, the Canon 50 mm f/1.4, at the show, as well as at the Kobe restaurant with my co-workers this afternoon in Santa Clara. The verdict is that it’s a very sharp prime lens, but a bit finicky, especially in low-light situations. Without the comfort of a zoom lens, one really has to concentrate about composition and positioning when taking photos with this lens! It’s difficult, but a good exercise for any photographer to undertake! The lens can make some tack sharp photos, but you’ve got to have a steady hand. At 80 mm effective length (due to the 1.6x focal length multiplication factor), you’ve got to be steady in those low-light situations!

In a relatively small company, talent shows can be an excellent way for a company to bond. In larger companies, talent shows or fairs are often ignored by much of the company’s employees. So, I must admit that it was nice to see a group of young professionals getting together and seemingly forgetting about work for at least one evening. Like at my workgroups’ holiday party last month, these types of events are excellent opportunities to know the other side of people, the one beyond the work plane.

Spider-gestion

Small, furry, and chewy does a body good, right? It must have been an inside joke between these Homesteaders, because when I saw the MC whip out a big and plump spider for someone to eat, there were collective groans and laughs emanating from the crowd. Man, I did not want to be one of the two guys standing on stage, waiting to see who would be the one to eat the spider for a princely sum of $70! One of them eventually did, and it certainly didn’t seem to go well with his stomach; it looked like a scene straight out of an episode of Survivor!

On second thought, it this were Survivor, the spider would have been a giant tarantula, crunchy, hairy, and too big for just one delectable bite!

Life Philosophy Over Pho

After the talent show, Randy and our friend, Jeff Li, went over to my current favorite restaurant on Castro Street, Pho Hoa. This place is next to the ever “rocking” Lime Light Club in Mountain View and is open until 2:00 am every night! For late night food, it can’t be beat, though its prices have risen in recent times to a level slightly higher than what the food is truly worth, in my opinion. As usual, I ordered #45, large, with no cilantro.

Jeff, Randy, and I discussed Jeff’s recent travels around the world, centering primarily on his jaunts over to South and Central America over the past 10 months. It’s an fascinating decision to drop everything that one has in order to travel, experience, and live for an extended period of time. It’s a very appealing question and choice that we probably all, at one point in our lives, have face: what do we really want to do with our lives? Do we work, work, work… work for what??? Is there something beyond the daily grind, the disappointments and achievements in the workplace? Is there something else deep in our souls that gnaws and urges us to go beyond the fast cars, the dollars of dot-coms and technology, something that drives us to explore, experience, and live?