25 Random Things About Myself

Rules: Write a note with 25 random things about you. To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

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1. One day I was arguing with two friends on how much I hated Windows, and how things never seemed to work properly. One of them said: “But then, why do you keep using Windows?”, I replied: “You know, I'm going to buy a Mac, just to prove a point”, and the second friend said: “What point? That Mac's don't work?”. Today, the three of us are very happy Mac users.

2. All my life, I had been very lazy, particularly about studying. When I was little, I used to say that those of my friends that were studying a lot before an exam were cheating. “I mean, what's the point if just before the exam you are reading all the answers from the book?”

3. I am an optimist. I believe that humanity is currently facing some really big challenges (particularly in environment), however I also believe that humanity (with special help from scientists) will provide the solution to those challenges.

4. I was most likely not the first one to have the idea, but I speculated with friends about automatic face tagging/recognition in photos (and on why that was feasible), at least a year before Picasa and iPhoto implemented it.

5. I actually spent some time trying to figure out how to come up with a sample of 25 truly random (i.e., uniformly distributed) facts about myself. Eventually I gave up, and started writing the first 25 things that came to mind. The order of the items in this note, however, is really random.

6. I studied for about 6 years in a German school in Mexico. I had so much trouble learning the language, that eventually I left the school claiming: “Why bother? I'll never need to use this in my life!” Today I live in Germany. And I haven't learned the language very well anyway.

7. I hate it when people say things like “everything happens for a reason”.

8. As a child, I went for a while to piano lessons. My parents even got me an electronic keyboard. Eventually, I discovered that I could program computers to play music. My hands have only been in computer keyboards after that.

9. I have a very bad memory, in college, I could never memorize any of the formulas or equations that were given to us. I had to derive them over and over again during the exams. On the other hand, numbers that I frequently have to dial or type, remain imprinted in my brain. After about 5 years of inactivity, I was able to remember by ICQ number since, back then, you had to type the number in order to login.

10. I really don't like learning new languages. I learned English because computers and the Internet were written in English. If I weren't born in a Spanish speaking country then, probably, I wouldn't speak the language.

11. I love to travel and to visit new places. But I hate it when I have to travel alone. It actually depresses me doing ‘tourtisty’ stuff in a new city by myself.

12. I love how, in the modern internet, information flows and interconnects beyond the boundaries of individual pages or sites. Half on my life today is lived on the internet. As a hobby, I am working on a project to aggregate all such online activities and keep a record in a single central place.

13. The first time that I got drunk, I was only 3 years old. My dad had a collection of miniature samples of alcoholic drinks, and I had one of those “little sodas”. Apparently, I laughed a lot and couldn't stop saying “I love you mom!”

14. One of the moments that I've enjoyed the most in my life, was building all the furniture for the place where I'm living now. Building my own kitchen was not only challenging but fun!

15. I've always dreamed of owning an ice cream/coffee shop with large cozy couches, and free access to books and internet for the customers.

16. I love the views of cities or landscapes from high places.

17. If it wasn't Mathematics, and after the other obvious career option of Computer Science, I would have studied Philosophy.

18. I waste lots of time asking and answering to myself stupid questions like ¿how long does it take for iTunes to play all of my songs when in shuffle mode? and ¿are all the words in a thesaurus interconnected?

19. The relationship, with the best girlfriend I've ever had, lasted 24 hours.

20. When I was little, after watching Back to the Futre Part III at the cinema, I kept the plastic cup of the drink that I've had, and promised myself to “build a model of the time-traveling train using the cup”. That never happened.

21. Sometimes, I picture in my mind some great ideas that I think it would be very cool to draw by hand. The times when I actually sat down and tried to do the drawing, I almost invariably ended up stating: “Crap. It looked way better in my mind!” I don't draw too often because of that.

22. My prediction to the future of computer interfaces: No more menus in applications. We will access commands through a single adaptive search box. Search, don't browse!

23. My music collection includes titles from electronica, pop, rock, modern versions of old clasics, and reggaeton.

24. I act like a stupid kid when I go to science museums. I love it when there is a chance to play and experiment with the expositions they have. I wish at some point I am able to design some scientific museum expositions of my own.

25. Along my life, I've broken several of my limbs in the most stupid situations: a leg as I jumped into an empty ball pit, an arm as I jumped to throw a ball playing basketball (no dunking involved), the wrist as I fell from a bicycle (no extreme ramps involved), and a knee while dancing reggaeton.