Name: Aki Mimoto
Role at GT: Code Master Supreme
Quote to live by: Exploding High-Five!

Looking at this photo, you’d probably think we hired a 19th century photographer with a ridiculously nice hat. But we at Gossamer Threads have not yet mastered the art of time travel - not yet at least.

Meet Aki! - The first in a series of our special interest pieces on Gossamer employees.

Read on to learn a little more about one of the star players here at Gossamer Threads.

Aki at Work

Aki Mimoto has been a loyal Gossamer employee for roughly 7 years, blessing us with his exemplary Perl skills in countless projects. Having been classically trained in biology (he has an SFU Biology Degree), he uses the scientific method in order to solve database structure issues, manipulate code, and create works of programming magic.

Interestingly enough, Aki’s bachelor degree took him 11 years to complete (mostly because he floated in and out of school during that time). “Best part was that a good friend that I started first year with convocated two days before I did; and received her Phd.”

Aki at Play

When not at work, Aki’s passion lies in photography. “The idea was that my taking photos would serve as surrogate memories for later since I’ve got a memory like a sieve.” Powerful words.

Aki uses a Canon 20d with 430ex flash, 12-24 f/4.5 sigma, 70-200 f/2.8 sigma, 16-55kit, and 50 f/1.8 (I have no idea what that means either)

Aki donates his awesome picture taking ability to the company’s Christmas card; in fact, the above photo of our lovely office gracing the Vancouver night skyline was one of them.

Some of the more interesting locations Aki’s shot include Australia, Vietnam and my favourite, the Illuminaries Lantern Procession, where Aki took photos on stilts!

Essentially, the Illuminaries is an event where thousands of paper lanterns are lit and spectacles of juggling, clowning, and dancing can be seen everywhere you go.

Aki ..on stilts

Aki had a few things to say about his experience with stlits:

• The truth is, the fear of falling is many times worse than the fall - described as a slow motion decent.
• Laughter and silliness had no trouble finding a home in a group full of quirky and artistic folk.
• The best comment was someone commenting that we looked like a group of yuppies in a park.
• It’s amazing what isn’t scary. Little rises in the path that wouldn’t register as a bump taunt as tall mountains or little pebbles feel like ball bearings to slip out from.
• The pace is slower than walking but the strides grow to around six feet and takes very little effort to travel at an amazing rate

He then goes on to say, in regards to his stilting lessons, that “Even if our revellery was a potential luxury of class, I would like to hope we were providing more pleasure to those watching us than making an ostentatious show of wealth and leisure time. Entertainment has existed even in the most difficult times, it seems improbable that entertainers have no intrinstic value beyond an artifact of cultural excess.”

A fine and verbose employee indeed - Gossamer Threads salutes you Aki!

To see more of Aki’s lovely pictures, visit his photoblog at www.disconti.nu!

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Tags: aki, Company Life, photography

This entry was posted on Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Employee Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.