Contrary to my wish, WWDC20 is going to be an online-only event. Apple said it would be “a new experience.” I’m positive about the decision. But at the same time, sorry for missing some traditional moments: the midnight line-up, rush for the shop opening, and there would be no WWDC official jacket. Oh, the jacket. It is the only item given to the WWDC attendants for free - except for the conference pass and some badges.

I bought a paperback of “Barbarian Days (William Finnegan).” It is unlikely for me to buy a paper-book in these days (most are e-books), but I buy a few if it is an excellent book. The physical book has some merits over e-books. Most of all, I’d love to pick the book and open any random page, then feel the move when I first read the page. It is the book that has the worth.

My company HQ moved to a new location - Redwood City - from Palo Alto. I think the main reason would be (as I’m not an executive) the cost. The previous office was a sub-lease from a VC. It was located in the head of the University Ave. (a great location!), but it had the inconvenience of the sub-leased office; we had to share the space (and we couldn’t get crazy while watching the NBA final last year).

My new office now has a toaster, and I can toast a bagel for breakfast. I love bagels for breakfast, but unbaked bagels are so miserable. View this post on Instagram Now we have a toaster. I was mad when Tim Cook slashed toasters at WWDC. A bagel without toast? - nonsense. A post shared by Diko Ko (@dikoko) on Feb 27, 2020 at 8:48am PST

Finally, I’ve closed the Wordpress blog. It’d be better to shut down it before I renewed the Wordpress subscription last year, but I did it anyway. The main reason was that I couldn’t feel any affection for the site even I spent a bunch of money on it. Though it is the de-facto standard, PHP based site nowadays? - no way to be cool. I still wanted somewhere to journal my thoughts as a record.

A few months ago, I read a twitter of a Korean software engineer who was working in Silicon Valley. He had been in a meetup for college students who were interested in working in Silicon Valley. There was a Q&A session, and he was mad at a question. “Should I be good at English?” It sounded to me a general question, but he was furious about it. Because he thought it was a question to fail: an excuse for failure.

Then, I want to talk about why I’m back to Bay Area. Ten years ago, my SF office closed - when the financial crisis came - and I had to return to Korea. During the last 10 years, I started my own business, had many experiences, exited from the business due to a health issue, then back to an engineer over my forties. Last year, I was deeply impressed by the book “The New Geography of Jobs” by Enrico Moretti.

A month ago, I canceled my Wordpress subscription. First of all, I don’t write blog these days. Moreover, if I would write a blog, I thought Medium could be the better place. However, I renewed the Wordpress just a week before the cancelation. The main reason was that I thought I was not ready to show something to others. My blog has been a virtually private space though it has been open to others.

In my last business trip to Tokyo, I couldn’t buy a flight ticket for my schedule. So, I had to take a plane for three days ahead of my original plan. It was a rainy Sunday morning when I got to the Haneda airport. I took on a limousine bus to my hotel, opened my iPhone and launched Twitter out of my habit. At the very moment, my eyes lit upon a tweet of Takako Ohta about her 35th anniversary live concert.

Although I have not done the last cour anime wrap-up, (and I’m not sure I can do that…) I can tell one thing. My best pick of the previous cour is “Hinamatsuri.” And I got to know there is a small exhibition for Hinamatsuri in Harajuku, Tokyo from a Twitter message of TT. (Takako Tanaka, She is the heroine Hina’s character voice, and to tell the truth, her first job was my last game ‘Sid Story’ when she is in the training school.