Author's Note: I actually wrote this blog entry a week and a half ago, about two days after the events described. Then I pretty much forgot to transcribe it for your reading pleasure. Sorry about that. On the plus side, it adds an extra layer of irony to the first few lines.
The reason this most recent blog entry is late (as opposed to the reason so many others were late) is that I was out of town this weekend on a trip. It wasn't so good for blog writing but besides that it was a ridiculously productive and thoroughly enjoyable trip. Sarah and I went to the Outer Banks. Officially we were there for wedding planning. Unofficially we just wanted to go to the beach.
Honestly, though, I wasn't expecting "beach" as much of an option. It is October after all. I was pleasantly surprised. It was seventies and sunny all weekend, beautiful weather to be walking around in (which is good, because we did a lot of that).
We visited four different potential wedding sites, and I do mean different. If I were to draw up a matrix of common components (because I'm an engineer by training, and I think like that) each site would occupy its own unique spot without overlap. Sarah has a few more site details (plus her own interpretation of the trip) on her blog.
We also hit up our favorite restaurants and even tried two new ones (one out of necessity and one out of curiosity). As we drove back and forth from appointment to appointment, we made notes on hotels, possible rehearsal dinner locations, churches, and other landmarks that might be of particular interest to guests new to the Outer Banks (or OBX as we regulars like to call it when we're feeling snooty). On top of this we found time to visit our engagement site, tour a landmark or two we hadn't visited before, and even take a traditional long walk on the beach.
The hotel was pretty shabby (not recommending that one to guests) and on the return trip one oblivious lady tried very hard to occupy the same physical space as my car by crossing three lanes of traffic from the on ramp in one spectacular merge (my poor little Civic horn is completely incapable of getting anyone's attention, thus the driver remains frustratingly oblivious to this day) - so the weekend wasn't perfect, but it was pretty close.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
On Sabres and Stingers
It's an interesting time to be a Wahoo on the Georgia Tech campus right now. UVa just happens to be the opponent in this weekend's football game. I've been on the GT campus for other UVa games but GT has never made a big deal out of UVa before. This time, though, it's homecoming and Georgia Tech cares very much.
Three weeks ago, when the window was closing on my opportunity to get student tickets, it didn't look like it was going to be a very good game. UVa was on their third string quarterback and missing several other significant players thanks to a slew of troubles and injuries. Things didn't go so well for the Cavaliers. We lost to Duke, perennial joke of the ACC, in a crushing defeat that was, frankly, humiliating. So the thought of sitting in the Georgia Tech student section to watch the Cavaliers line up against the Yellow Jackets (a team with a significantly better reputation than Duke) was not particularly appealing to me. I made a mistake. I let the tickets go.
Now things are looking a little different. That third string quarterback has learned quickly and UVa today is a different team than it was three weeks ago. Diehl has more to say about our troubles and transformations here. The short of it is that UVa is coming off a three game winning streak that includes a Maryland shutout and the defeat of 18 ranked UNC in overtime. Georgia Tech is still favored for this upcoming game, but not quite as certain as they once were.
And now the students here are getting into it. Signs are appearing all over campus, cheering for GT and occasionally villifying UVa. I've never been on the wrong end of such propaganda before. Oh sure, Jeremy likes to send us pictures of the Virginia Tech mascot doing things to the Cavalier that should, given the definition of a hokie, be anatomically impossible, but that's just when he's feeling blue. Here there's a full-on campaign under way and they all assume I'm in on it. It's a little surreal (especially the bit about walking over chalk outlines of Cavaliers on my way to class).
Fortunately, I've got a Virginia shirt for every day of the week.
Three weeks ago, when the window was closing on my opportunity to get student tickets, it didn't look like it was going to be a very good game. UVa was on their third string quarterback and missing several other significant players thanks to a slew of troubles and injuries. Things didn't go so well for the Cavaliers. We lost to Duke, perennial joke of the ACC, in a crushing defeat that was, frankly, humiliating. So the thought of sitting in the Georgia Tech student section to watch the Cavaliers line up against the Yellow Jackets (a team with a significantly better reputation than Duke) was not particularly appealing to me. I made a mistake. I let the tickets go.
Now things are looking a little different. That third string quarterback has learned quickly and UVa today is a different team than it was three weeks ago. Diehl has more to say about our troubles and transformations here. The short of it is that UVa is coming off a three game winning streak that includes a Maryland shutout and the defeat of 18 ranked UNC in overtime. Georgia Tech is still favored for this upcoming game, but not quite as certain as they once were.
And now the students here are getting into it. Signs are appearing all over campus, cheering for GT and occasionally villifying UVa. I've never been on the wrong end of such propaganda before. Oh sure, Jeremy likes to send us pictures of the Virginia Tech mascot doing things to the Cavalier that should, given the definition of a hokie, be anatomically impossible, but that's just when he's feeling blue. Here there's a full-on campaign under way and they all assume I'm in on it. It's a little surreal (especially the bit about walking over chalk outlines of Cavaliers on my way to class).
Fortunately, I've got a Virginia shirt for every day of the week.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Not Quite Sandstorm
In my continued efforts to keep myself healthy and also have fun (something I enjoy very much), I saw a great opportunity when the ID students started talking about starting intramural teams here at Georgia Tech. One person suggested an ultimate frisbee team. Sounded fun, so I signed up. Another suggested a sand volleyball team. Even better! Here, I thought, was my chance to participate in the sport that brought such glory and adoration to my friends on Team Sandstorm. I signed up for that one, too. The girl who started the frisbee team sent us details and linked us to the schedule, but the one who proposed the volleyball team was silent. So I sent her an email poke to find out what was going on. Turns out she hadn't actually attended the original sign up meeting, so now we needed to do an alternate sign up, but she and all the other team members had a class conflict so could I please go sign them up? Perhaps that should have been my first warning.
I accepted (because, hey, I like volleyball and I still had hopes of being just like Team Sandstorm). It turns out she really had no idea what the sign up involved. I ended up captain by default. The girl who started the thing had no interest in actually being captain, so I kept it, but it's an odd way to end up the head of the team. Also, I got to name the team. Since we're design students, I named us after one of our modeling tools and we became The Sandblasters (our frisbee team was named Xacto).
Unfortunately, we were a team in name only. I had a list of about 9 people who were interested, given to me by the girl who started the whole thing, but on closer inspection 3 of them had never actually volunteered. I sent the details to the rest of them, recruited two more, asked some questions about playing experience and then prepared for our first game. No one actually answered my questions, so I had no clue what to expect regarding the quality of our team (actually, that in itself was a clue, I just didn't recognize it).
Three people showed for that first game. It's supposed to be 4-on-4. I made the fourth, but came down with a nasty chest cold two days before and decided it was in everyone's best interests if I didn't actually play. So I cheered (such as it was) and we lost. The next week was a bye, so I held a practice. Surprisingly the practice got the best attendance of any event for the whole season. For two of our teammates (including the girl who suggested volleyball in the first place), it was the only event they would actually attend. It was fun, and I felt good about our next game. We actually had 5 people for that one, but still lost.
Two complete losses (we weren't shut out, but we didn't score very much either) put us 29th in a field of 30. For the next game, though, we were scheduled to play the 30th team. I was pretty excited, we actually had a chance to win this one. I even called Bruce for tips and suggestions for that extra edge.
I showed up on the field with twenty minutes early, pumped but concerned that no one had actually confirmed they would be there. At five minutes to go, I was still the only Sandblaster, so I started making phone calls. We needed a minimum of 2 people to actually play. Finally, one more showed up. We had our minimum and it was all we were going to get. The other team had 6. Fortunately, they were pretty nice about it and set the game to 2 on 2. It ended up the best game Sandblasters ever had. We still lost both games, but by a much closer margin and I, for one, had a much better time than in any of the other games (we actually led the second game by 8 points early on, before our inability to sub out started to wear on us). We actually scored enough points to keep our 29th place (the 28th team had a bad week and skipped straight to 30).
I didn't know it at the time, but it was also Sandblaster's last game. I couldn't make the final week, but the others said they would be there. They ended up changing their minds. It's probably for the best. Our last game was supposed to be against the league's number 2 team. It would not have gone well. As it was we forfeited and finally earned that 30 spot we'd been drifting towards.
The whole thing was a huge disappointment. Not for the losses, but for the complete disinterest from the rest of my team. On the other hand, the one 2v2 game we played reinforced that I can indeed enjoy it. I just need to play with people who want to play. The same thing happened to the frisbee team, though, so it may not be desire but rather availability (something ID students are a bit short on). In any case, I didn't suggest anything for the new IM season that started this month. I'll just have to put my volleyball dreams on hold for now.
I accepted (because, hey, I like volleyball and I still had hopes of being just like Team Sandstorm). It turns out she really had no idea what the sign up involved. I ended up captain by default. The girl who started the thing had no interest in actually being captain, so I kept it, but it's an odd way to end up the head of the team. Also, I got to name the team. Since we're design students, I named us after one of our modeling tools and we became The Sandblasters (our frisbee team was named Xacto).
Unfortunately, we were a team in name only. I had a list of about 9 people who were interested, given to me by the girl who started the whole thing, but on closer inspection 3 of them had never actually volunteered. I sent the details to the rest of them, recruited two more, asked some questions about playing experience and then prepared for our first game. No one actually answered my questions, so I had no clue what to expect regarding the quality of our team (actually, that in itself was a clue, I just didn't recognize it).
Three people showed for that first game. It's supposed to be 4-on-4. I made the fourth, but came down with a nasty chest cold two days before and decided it was in everyone's best interests if I didn't actually play. So I cheered (such as it was) and we lost. The next week was a bye, so I held a practice. Surprisingly the practice got the best attendance of any event for the whole season. For two of our teammates (including the girl who suggested volleyball in the first place), it was the only event they would actually attend. It was fun, and I felt good about our next game. We actually had 5 people for that one, but still lost.
Two complete losses (we weren't shut out, but we didn't score very much either) put us 29th in a field of 30. For the next game, though, we were scheduled to play the 30th team. I was pretty excited, we actually had a chance to win this one. I even called Bruce for tips and suggestions for that extra edge.
I showed up on the field with twenty minutes early, pumped but concerned that no one had actually confirmed they would be there. At five minutes to go, I was still the only Sandblaster, so I started making phone calls. We needed a minimum of 2 people to actually play. Finally, one more showed up. We had our minimum and it was all we were going to get. The other team had 6. Fortunately, they were pretty nice about it and set the game to 2 on 2. It ended up the best game Sandblasters ever had. We still lost both games, but by a much closer margin and I, for one, had a much better time than in any of the other games (we actually led the second game by 8 points early on, before our inability to sub out started to wear on us). We actually scored enough points to keep our 29th place (the 28th team had a bad week and skipped straight to 30).
I didn't know it at the time, but it was also Sandblaster's last game. I couldn't make the final week, but the others said they would be there. They ended up changing their minds. It's probably for the best. Our last game was supposed to be against the league's number 2 team. It would not have gone well. As it was we forfeited and finally earned that 30 spot we'd been drifting towards.
The whole thing was a huge disappointment. Not for the losses, but for the complete disinterest from the rest of my team. On the other hand, the one 2v2 game we played reinforced that I can indeed enjoy it. I just need to play with people who want to play. The same thing happened to the frisbee team, though, so it may not be desire but rather availability (something ID students are a bit short on). In any case, I didn't suggest anything for the new IM season that started this month. I'll just have to put my volleyball dreams on hold for now.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Green is a complex color
We talk about environmentally-friendly "green" design in my classes fairly often. One of my classmates is pursuing a thesis topic devoted to recycling. Another classmate literally yells at us almost every time a plastic bottle or soda can ends up in the trash instead of the recycling bin (we don't actually have a recycling bin in our new studio, so his desk has taken on that job now).
It's a topic of some conflict for designers. On the one hand, designers tend to hail from the artist crowd and are by and large idealists. On the other hand, it is their job to make new stuff and, in so doing, contribute to both consumerism and the waste that follows. It's hard to reconcile "green" with that kind of work. So we talk about it and argue about it and generally try to figure it out as we go.
This discussion is helped in part by an increasing consumer demand for "green" and the resulting increase in industry attempts to meet that demand. The problem is that it's a complex issue, and no one really likes complexity. They want a rubber stamp that tells them whether a product is good or not (the healthy food trend faces the same issues). It's the metrics problem all over again. People want an easy measure, but there isn't one. There are tradeoffs. There are always tradeoffs. An ability to deal with that truth is what separates "design" from "whimsy."
Also, there's profit to be made in "green" now and that muddies the waters a bit. Companies produce new products, slap a green label on them, and watch the other kind of green come rolling in, regardless of how environmentally friendly they really are. This kind of opportunism only adds to undercurrents of distrust that already exist. One of the trends my classmate has found in her thesis work is that people are often skeptical of the quality of "green" products. Her mother, for instance, won't buy cleaning products that are labeled "green" because she assumes they don't work (whether there is truth to this, I cannot say). Companies that use "green" as an excuse to overcharge aren't helping any.
Sarah and I do what we can. We recycle everything, even the stuff our apartment complex doesn't. We use our own bags for groceries and we try to avoid other areas of waste, no matter how small. For instance, if we're eating at a fast food place, we skip the straws and the plastic lids for our cups. The classmate that yells about recycling gave us this idea. It's not much, a little less plastic to throw away, but it's part of our overall attempt to think about our impact and to consistently reduce it wherever we can. It's the consistency that gets tricky. Recycling everything means we have to drive our stuff to the county recycling center some distance away, using a fair amount of gas in the process. It's a tradeoff, but we try to wait as long as possible and take care of other errands in that region at the same time to minimize the impact. We also try not to get complacent ("It's okay for me to just toss this TV set because I'm already environmentally conscious; I don't use straws.")
It's not easy and we probably goof up as much as we get right, but we''ll keep trying. I'll pay close attention to what emerges in my classmate's thesis.
It's a topic of some conflict for designers. On the one hand, designers tend to hail from the artist crowd and are by and large idealists. On the other hand, it is their job to make new stuff and, in so doing, contribute to both consumerism and the waste that follows. It's hard to reconcile "green" with that kind of work. So we talk about it and argue about it and generally try to figure it out as we go.
This discussion is helped in part by an increasing consumer demand for "green" and the resulting increase in industry attempts to meet that demand. The problem is that it's a complex issue, and no one really likes complexity. They want a rubber stamp that tells them whether a product is good or not (the healthy food trend faces the same issues). It's the metrics problem all over again. People want an easy measure, but there isn't one. There are tradeoffs. There are always tradeoffs. An ability to deal with that truth is what separates "design" from "whimsy."
Also, there's profit to be made in "green" now and that muddies the waters a bit. Companies produce new products, slap a green label on them, and watch the other kind of green come rolling in, regardless of how environmentally friendly they really are. This kind of opportunism only adds to undercurrents of distrust that already exist. One of the trends my classmate has found in her thesis work is that people are often skeptical of the quality of "green" products. Her mother, for instance, won't buy cleaning products that are labeled "green" because she assumes they don't work (whether there is truth to this, I cannot say). Companies that use "green" as an excuse to overcharge aren't helping any.
Sarah and I do what we can. We recycle everything, even the stuff our apartment complex doesn't. We use our own bags for groceries and we try to avoid other areas of waste, no matter how small. For instance, if we're eating at a fast food place, we skip the straws and the plastic lids for our cups. The classmate that yells about recycling gave us this idea. It's not much, a little less plastic to throw away, but it's part of our overall attempt to think about our impact and to consistently reduce it wherever we can. It's the consistency that gets tricky. Recycling everything means we have to drive our stuff to the county recycling center some distance away, using a fair amount of gas in the process. It's a tradeoff, but we try to wait as long as possible and take care of other errands in that region at the same time to minimize the impact. We also try not to get complacent ("It's okay for me to just toss this TV set because I'm already environmentally conscious; I don't use straws.")
It's not easy and we probably goof up as much as we get right, but we''ll keep trying. I'll pay close attention to what emerges in my classmate's thesis.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
I don't know why I bother...
Clearly my brother does not need me to promote him... he does just fine on his own.
This was last week. Next week he's going to a bikini pageant party. Seriously.
I can't tell you how happy I am that he's the one in charge of my bachelor party.
This was last week. Next week he's going to a bikini pageant party. Seriously.
I can't tell you how happy I am that he's the one in charge of my bachelor party.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Shiny ... and not much else ... yet
Google has introduced their new web browser, Chrome. I spent some time playing with it recently and figured I'd pass on the results of my experiment. Nothing formal, or even all that prolonged, but I have at least started to poke around.
So here goes: It's not for me (yet), but it might be for you.
I say this because what they do, they do well, but they're not yet letting anyone else tinker under the hood. They've got tabs down. They paid attention to what everyone else was doing with tabs and learned from it. The search bar/address bar combination is brilliant and intuitive. Bookmarks are easy and they take full advantage of the tagging concept to really make them useful. All three of these things are positive iterations of what Firefox has been doing all along (and what Explorer has been attempting to copy). There are also upgrades to the download process, the url display, and numerous other tweaks and improvements
It's actually not a significant leap from what Firefox 3 does. It's tighter and cleaner in several places, but in general both Mozilla and Google seemed to have spotted the same opportunities for browser improvement. If I were just using Firefox 3, I'd make the switch because there are enough little improvements (from my perspective) that it would be worth the cost of transition (and absolutely make the switch if you're still using Internet Explorer).
I don't just use Firefox 3, however, I use Firefox 3 plus Add-ons. See Mozilla is open to improvements, they let users create content that improves or adds to the existing functionality of their browser (crowdsourcing is a fascinating topic for another time). I've mentioned several of the ones I use before. Chief amongst these is Delicious which introduced the whole bookmark-tagging idea that Chrome so effectively emulates (and which Firefox added to their arsenal in 3). The difference, as it applies to my browser use, is that I surf the web on at least three different computer systems (my home PC, my work laptop, and my classroom system). Delicious lets me keep the same set of bookmarks across all three systems and, as you'll see if you visit, I've built up quite a selection. Firefox lets me use those bookmarks directly in the browser thanks to the Delicious addon. Chrome does not yet support such cross-machine interaction (as far as I can tell). So to use Chrome, I'd have to start my bookmark setup all over again, without the benefit of importing things, and I'd have to do it for each computer that I use. That doesn't sound like much fun.
Additionally, I have an addon that blocks advertisements pretty effectively, an addon that automatically copies whatever text I highlight, and a more recent addon called Better Gmail 2 that improves the interface for my email. Some of the options are superfluous, but there are a few (like the one that lets me see what type of file is attached to an email before I read it) that are pretty handy.
If Google ever permits an addon structure with their browser, I'll revisit it. Were I to switch to Chrome at this point, however, I'd have to do without a great deal of the functionality I have come to depend upon in Firefox.
Also, Firefox's addon feature means I'm not missing much. There are already addons that imitate (or, in some cases, inspired) much of what Chrome does, right down to the look.
Final recommendation:
If you haven't added anything to your existing browser, check Chrome out.
If you're using addons, however, you should probably wait until Chrome let's you bring them over.
So here goes: It's not for me (yet), but it might be for you.
I say this because what they do, they do well, but they're not yet letting anyone else tinker under the hood. They've got tabs down. They paid attention to what everyone else was doing with tabs and learned from it. The search bar/address bar combination is brilliant and intuitive. Bookmarks are easy and they take full advantage of the tagging concept to really make them useful. All three of these things are positive iterations of what Firefox has been doing all along (and what Explorer has been attempting to copy). There are also upgrades to the download process, the url display, and numerous other tweaks and improvements
It's actually not a significant leap from what Firefox 3 does. It's tighter and cleaner in several places, but in general both Mozilla and Google seemed to have spotted the same opportunities for browser improvement. If I were just using Firefox 3, I'd make the switch because there are enough little improvements (from my perspective) that it would be worth the cost of transition (and absolutely make the switch if you're still using Internet Explorer).
I don't just use Firefox 3, however, I use Firefox 3 plus Add-ons. See Mozilla is open to improvements, they let users create content that improves or adds to the existing functionality of their browser (crowdsourcing is a fascinating topic for another time). I've mentioned several of the ones I use before. Chief amongst these is Delicious which introduced the whole bookmark-tagging idea that Chrome so effectively emulates (and which Firefox added to their arsenal in 3). The difference, as it applies to my browser use, is that I surf the web on at least three different computer systems (my home PC, my work laptop, and my classroom system). Delicious lets me keep the same set of bookmarks across all three systems and, as you'll see if you visit, I've built up quite a selection. Firefox lets me use those bookmarks directly in the browser thanks to the Delicious addon. Chrome does not yet support such cross-machine interaction (as far as I can tell). So to use Chrome, I'd have to start my bookmark setup all over again, without the benefit of importing things, and I'd have to do it for each computer that I use. That doesn't sound like much fun.
Additionally, I have an addon that blocks advertisements pretty effectively, an addon that automatically copies whatever text I highlight, and a more recent addon called Better Gmail 2 that improves the interface for my email. Some of the options are superfluous, but there are a few (like the one that lets me see what type of file is attached to an email before I read it) that are pretty handy.
If Google ever permits an addon structure with their browser, I'll revisit it. Were I to switch to Chrome at this point, however, I'd have to do without a great deal of the functionality I have come to depend upon in Firefox.
Also, Firefox's addon feature means I'm not missing much. There are already addons that imitate (or, in some cases, inspired) much of what Chrome does, right down to the look.
Final recommendation:
If you haven't added anything to your existing browser, check Chrome out.
If you're using addons, however, you should probably wait until Chrome let's you bring them over.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
On Frightening Things
Being a thoughtful man, I spend a lot of time, you know, thinking. Sometimes I think about school and homework. Sometimes I think about girls my fiancee. But I don't spend all my time thinking about pleasant things. I intend to live forever but I am aware that there are several forces that might impede my efforts to achieve this goal. So I also spend time thinking about my fears, partly because I cannot avoid it, but partly also because I know that in facing my fears I may better prepare myself for the day they are realized.
I share my fears with you now.
Zombies
The undead are a pretty frightening bunch in general. It's sort of their purpose in (un)life. I have a special concern just for zombies, though. This is odd, considering that I enjoy zombie movies, zombie video games, and even zombie books. Perhaps that can be considered an attempt to face this fear, to learn as much about it, so that should a zombie situation arise I will not succumb to panic. And indeed, considering the various advice and tactics I have studied, I believe I will be able to handle myself in such an emergency. Yet still I worry, and I believe it to be justified. Zombies are trouble. We're talking about an enemy that never stops coming (even vampires sleep, and there's that three week window when a werewolf is just another hairy guy), that is completely immune to pain or fear, that cannot be reasoned with, and that can, with a single bite, not just destroy you, but convert you into one of their own (a two man swing for the enemy). If they weren't also slow and stupid we wouldn't stand a chance. As it is, our chances are pretty slim. So yeah, fear the zombies.
Velociraptors
While zombies typify the unstoppable enemy, these guys are the consumate predator. They're fast, they're smart, and they cooperate - more than can be said for a lot of human enemies. They can run faster, leap farther, and track better than just about any other carnivore. Also, they have lots of sharp points they like to stick in their prey. They're vulnerable to things like electric fences and tranquilizer darts, but how many of you own anything like that?
Robots
I wasn't afraid of robots until I saw the commercial that explained how they like to kill old people for their medicine. It is my stated goal to live forever, which means I'll eventually be a really old person. So while they may not be much of a threat to me now, I figured it's prudent to prepare for the time when they are.
Aliens
Some aliens are nice and use weird hand gestures to wish you wealth and a long life. Most, however, are not so friendly. Some like to hunt humans for sport. Some lay their eggs in us. Some just think we're a tasty treat. Even the ones that want to mate with us don't really mean us well (unless you're Kirk, that mating process rarely works out for the humans). Sure there's the occasional A.L.F. or Mork, but your odds of meeting that kind of alien are not good.
Fear Itself
The man who most publicly identified this particular fear even went so far as to claim that it is the only thing worth fearing. I, obviously, don't entirely agree (clearly he never met a zombie) but fear itself is definitely worthy of our respect. Considering that it can cause you to freeze in place when confronted by something trying to harm you, that it can induce various forms of stupidity and self-destruction, I'd say yes, fear itself is a thing worth fearing.
And finally, the worst of them all, the thing I fear most in this world:
Zombie Velociraptor Robot Aliens
I cannot even begin to describe the kind of terror these inspire. Forget fire and ice, THIS is the way the world ends. Gah, I don't even want to talk about it. I shouldn't have written this entry. I'm going to have nightmares for weeks now.
I share my fears with you now.
Zombies
The undead are a pretty frightening bunch in general. It's sort of their purpose in (un)life. I have a special concern just for zombies, though. This is odd, considering that I enjoy zombie movies, zombie video games, and even zombie books. Perhaps that can be considered an attempt to face this fear, to learn as much about it, so that should a zombie situation arise I will not succumb to panic. And indeed, considering the various advice and tactics I have studied, I believe I will be able to handle myself in such an emergency. Yet still I worry, and I believe it to be justified. Zombies are trouble. We're talking about an enemy that never stops coming (even vampires sleep, and there's that three week window when a werewolf is just another hairy guy), that is completely immune to pain or fear, that cannot be reasoned with, and that can, with a single bite, not just destroy you, but convert you into one of their own (a two man swing for the enemy). If they weren't also slow and stupid we wouldn't stand a chance. As it is, our chances are pretty slim. So yeah, fear the zombies.
Velociraptors
While zombies typify the unstoppable enemy, these guys are the consumate predator. They're fast, they're smart, and they cooperate - more than can be said for a lot of human enemies. They can run faster, leap farther, and track better than just about any other carnivore. Also, they have lots of sharp points they like to stick in their prey. They're vulnerable to things like electric fences and tranquilizer darts, but how many of you own anything like that?
Robots
I wasn't afraid of robots until I saw the commercial that explained how they like to kill old people for their medicine. It is my stated goal to live forever, which means I'll eventually be a really old person. So while they may not be much of a threat to me now, I figured it's prudent to prepare for the time when they are.
Aliens
Some aliens are nice and use weird hand gestures to wish you wealth and a long life. Most, however, are not so friendly. Some like to hunt humans for sport. Some lay their eggs in us. Some just think we're a tasty treat. Even the ones that want to mate with us don't really mean us well (unless you're Kirk, that mating process rarely works out for the humans). Sure there's the occasional A.L.F. or Mork, but your odds of meeting that kind of alien are not good.
Fear Itself
The man who most publicly identified this particular fear even went so far as to claim that it is the only thing worth fearing. I, obviously, don't entirely agree (clearly he never met a zombie) but fear itself is definitely worthy of our respect. Considering that it can cause you to freeze in place when confronted by something trying to harm you, that it can induce various forms of stupidity and self-destruction, I'd say yes, fear itself is a thing worth fearing.
And finally, the worst of them all, the thing I fear most in this world:
Zombie Velociraptor Robot Aliens
I cannot even begin to describe the kind of terror these inspire. Forget fire and ice, THIS is the way the world ends. Gah, I don't even want to talk about it. I shouldn't have written this entry. I'm going to have nightmares for weeks now.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Hot!
I have often maintained that I am the less attractive Smith brother. Those of you who have not met my brother may find it hard to believe that he could possibly be handsomer than I am. Well, to reassure you, he's not MUCH more attractive, but he is both taller (by a hair) and darker than I am. Also, he wears his facial hair better, when he chooses to grow it. For the past few years he has also been in much better shape than I am (I'm working out again, so maybe that disparity will diminish - I won the last arm wrestling match we had years ago and have been smart enough not to let him try again).
Also, and this is where he really gains the points, he's a bit more adventurous than I am, more daring. He has a certain boldness that so many (men and women both) find charming. He's the second child and he and I play those respective roles pretty well.
You can take this whole summer as a prime example of this. He started with a stint on a research boat out of Woodshole on a NOAA cruise, saving baby seals or something like that.
Okay, so heavy weather gear isn't his best look, but then he drove from Massachusetts to Wyoming for the express purpose of fighting forest fires. Yeah, that's right, my brother now has firefighter chic going for him, too. It produces pictures like this:
(he's also more of a ham than I am)
He was officially stationed in Wyoming, but they sent him to California for weeks at a time. He helped fight the American River Complex fires and the SHU Lightning Complex fire, largely by creating firebreaks to contain them. Basically he and his team walked along the edge of the fire (on the windward side) and dug a trench down to mineral soil, clearing any brush that crossed the line.
The two pictures below show him using a drip torch to start a fire, clearing out underbrush and depriving potential (wild) fires of fuel.
He worked hard, clearly, but had an awesome time. It sounds like quite the adventure (helicopter rides and everything!).
(He is also, if this is not obvious yet, an expert at the one-armed-self-portrait.)
And now he has a kickass answer to the question, "What did you do this summer?"
Also, and this is where he really gains the points, he's a bit more adventurous than I am, more daring. He has a certain boldness that so many (men and women both) find charming. He's the second child and he and I play those respective roles pretty well.
You can take this whole summer as a prime example of this. He started with a stint on a research boat out of Woodshole on a NOAA cruise, saving baby seals or something like that.
Okay, so heavy weather gear isn't his best look, but then he drove from Massachusetts to Wyoming for the express purpose of fighting forest fires. Yeah, that's right, my brother now has firefighter chic going for him, too. It produces pictures like this:
(he's also more of a ham than I am)
He was officially stationed in Wyoming, but they sent him to California for weeks at a time. He helped fight the American River Complex fires and the SHU Lightning Complex fire, largely by creating firebreaks to contain them. Basically he and his team walked along the edge of the fire (on the windward side) and dug a trench down to mineral soil, clearing any brush that crossed the line.
The two pictures below show him using a drip torch to start a fire, clearing out underbrush and depriving potential (wild) fires of fuel.
He worked hard, clearly, but had an awesome time. It sounds like quite the adventure (helicopter rides and everything!).
(He is also, if this is not obvious yet, an expert at the one-armed-self-portrait.)
And now he has a kickass answer to the question, "What did you do this summer?"
Saturday, August 23, 2008
It's like 2002 all over again
Sarah has been gone all week at a conference. It's been quite an event and I'm sure she'll tell you all about it when she gets back. This, however, is my venue, so this is the story of my week. I should warn you it's not very interesting. In fact, that might be it's chief feature, a general extended boredom.
I was pretty disappointed at how quickly and how completely I reverted to bachelor behavior once Sarah vanished. I basically ate only three meals the entire week. I started with an old box of Tuna Helper that survived the most recent move. And yes, I checked the expiration date first; I still had at least three days to go (and that's the last box of _____ Helper we've got - now that I'm paying attention to things like "sodium content" I won't be buying any more of that ever again). That was dinner Sunday and lunch through Wednesday. The rest of the dinners alternated between pasta with marinara that's been the staple of my diet since I began cooking my own food (in my defense, it's a homemade sauce) and sausage (eaten like a hot dog, except using regular bread since I don't have any hot dog buns) that was on sale at Publix this week. If the sausage hadn't been on sale, I would have just had regular hot dogs.
It's amazing how boring my diet is when I'm only cooking for one. Oh there were salads (with the hot dogs and the pasta) and peas (mixed in with the Tuna Helper), but all in all neither the healthiest nor the most interesting of weeks.
Let's see, what else happened this week? There was school and homework. There were video games, two DVDs (both only so-so), and some reading (mostly stuff I've read before). There was cat feeding (and occasional cat throwing when they decided to gnaw on my elbow at 2 in the morning). There was even cake baking. There was, however, very little washing of the dishes. I should fix that before she gets home...
I was pretty disappointed at how quickly and how completely I reverted to bachelor behavior once Sarah vanished. I basically ate only three meals the entire week. I started with an old box of Tuna Helper that survived the most recent move. And yes, I checked the expiration date first; I still had at least three days to go (and that's the last box of _____ Helper we've got - now that I'm paying attention to things like "sodium content" I won't be buying any more of that ever again). That was dinner Sunday and lunch through Wednesday. The rest of the dinners alternated between pasta with marinara that's been the staple of my diet since I began cooking my own food (in my defense, it's a homemade sauce) and sausage (eaten like a hot dog, except using regular bread since I don't have any hot dog buns) that was on sale at Publix this week. If the sausage hadn't been on sale, I would have just had regular hot dogs.
It's amazing how boring my diet is when I'm only cooking for one. Oh there were salads (with the hot dogs and the pasta) and peas (mixed in with the Tuna Helper), but all in all neither the healthiest nor the most interesting of weeks.
Let's see, what else happened this week? There was school and homework. There were video games, two DVDs (both only so-so), and some reading (mostly stuff I've read before). There was cat feeding (and occasional cat throwing when they decided to gnaw on my elbow at 2 in the morning). There was even cake baking. There was, however, very little washing of the dishes. I should fix that before she gets home...
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Familiar Terrirtory
A curious thing happened to me yesterday (and no, I am not here referring to the oddity of my decision to write a new blog entry at the school year’s beginning considering my failure to write anything at all during the freedom of summer. I won’t be mentioning that particular irony again). This curiosity concerns the movies previewed before The Dark Knight and it is this: I want to see all of them. Okay, so I won’t be waiting in line opening day for Bolt the animated tale of a dog TV star who believes his own press releases and the wacky cast of animals who help him rescue his owner, but it’s definitely going on my Netflix list. The others, I want to see in the theater.
There is, I suspect, a twofold reason for this. One reason occurred to me last night, the other is only just occurring now as I contemplate the actual list. First of all, these previews are showing before The Dark Knight, which could pretty much be counted a success before anyone actually saw it. I don’t know how previews are chosen, but it’s possible that the studios doing the preview used the venue of such an assumed blockbuster to show off their best stuff (also their most expensive/most in need of big ticket sales to make a profit).
The other reason I may find all these movies so appealing is that, in some ways, they are all familiar to me. With the exception of Bolt none of the movies previewed are original intellectual property. Two are continuations of longstanding franchises and the third is a movie adaptation of a comic book. Not that surprising, I guess, considering The Dark Knight is a sequel to a comic book adaptation.
Let’s list them off, shall we? We’ll go in order of certainty. The least risky of the three is the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I thought the last one was excellent and this appears to follow in the same vein: same general tone, same actor (several of my lady friends will be pleased to have a new shirtless scene). I don’t know how the diehard Connery-forever Bond fans feel (Amanda?), but I imagine anyone who liked the last one will probably like this one and vice-versa. So it’s a sure bet either way.
Next comes something a little less certain, given its history, but they’ve got an ace up their sleeve so I’m going to trust them. I’m talking about the next Terminator movie: Terminator Salvation (insert obvious joke about saving the franchise from the last offering). The first two were awesome. The third one less so (and I’ve never seen The Sarah Connor Chronicles, although I feel like I owe it to River Tam, I mean Summer Glau, to at least check it out) but this newest incarnation has something else going for it, specifically Christian Bale as John Connor. He’s excellent in everything I’ve seen him do. I didn’t enjoy American Psycho, and I really want to get back the three hours/million years of my life stolen by
Finally, the riskiest of the three movies, the one you’ve probably never heard of (unless you’re Brantley who first pushed this comic book on me, for which I thank him), the movie adaptation of Alan Moore’s Watchmen. The comic book (
What the heck was Bolt doing hanging out with this crowd?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Time to be me again
I have been free from classes for some time now. I turned in my last assignment more than a week ago and got my grades a few days later. Year two is done. One more year to go. Now it is summer break, and it truly is break time for me. I have no summer job as yet, but expect to soon. For now, I have nothing in particular to do. It's awesome. Or it was. Sometime yesterday I hit the "I'm bored now" stage. I realized I haven't actually seen anyone besides the Pennocks or my girlfriend in about a week. Just me and my apartment.
And my Xbox 360. Sarah is awesome and took it upon herself to organize several of my friends to get me one for my birthday. This helps explain the lack of blog posts. I beat Halo 3 on Heroic and picked up a number of achievements there. I've been working through Bioshock (creepy, but fascinating) more recently. I am deeply enjoying this thing. My days have been a combination of video games, reading, and to-do-lists. Finally I'm getting to a lot of things that were pushed aside by the school work. I have reached the point though where my time is starting to feel a little empty.
I recognize this feeling and I know what it means. It means two things: I need to create something and I need to talk to someone. I have at least learned about myself that I need a job, or a schedule, that lets me interact with a variety of people on a regular basis. I also need to be creating whether it be writing, designing, or simply building. I have a habit of letting myself just coast (books and video games are good for that) when I don't have anything specific to accomplish. The empty feeling that follows suggests I need to be more diligent about those things I keep saying I should do (or wish I'd done). When school was on, I always had tasks to accomplish. It represents, however, the opposite extreme, all tasks all the time and no chance to pause unless I made it myself (with all the additional guilt and stress that implies).
Fortunately, I've learned these things about myself and have a better idea about how to motivate myself. The trick is to avoid the coasting AND the exhaustion. If I had a laptop, I'd take myself away from my apartment with all its video games and books, and go find someplace to write. As it is, I set aside time earlier in the semester where I turned off my phone and my internet (I had to literally unplug the modem) and just wrote. It worked. I have most of a new story written. I'd have all of it done, but homework sort of took over my life at the end of the semester. Not entirely unexpected. Well there's no homework now. I've got time and that empty feeling that tells me I have taken the "unwinding" period a little too far. So it's time to reestablish the writing period. Let's see if I can do it every day. I think I can.
And my Xbox 360. Sarah is awesome and took it upon herself to organize several of my friends to get me one for my birthday. This helps explain the lack of blog posts. I beat Halo 3 on Heroic and picked up a number of achievements there. I've been working through Bioshock (creepy, but fascinating) more recently. I am deeply enjoying this thing. My days have been a combination of video games, reading, and to-do-lists. Finally I'm getting to a lot of things that were pushed aside by the school work. I have reached the point though where my time is starting to feel a little empty.
I recognize this feeling and I know what it means. It means two things: I need to create something and I need to talk to someone. I have at least learned about myself that I need a job, or a schedule, that lets me interact with a variety of people on a regular basis. I also need to be creating whether it be writing, designing, or simply building. I have a habit of letting myself just coast (books and video games are good for that) when I don't have anything specific to accomplish. The empty feeling that follows suggests I need to be more diligent about those things I keep saying I should do (or wish I'd done). When school was on, I always had tasks to accomplish. It represents, however, the opposite extreme, all tasks all the time and no chance to pause unless I made it myself (with all the additional guilt and stress that implies).
Fortunately, I've learned these things about myself and have a better idea about how to motivate myself. The trick is to avoid the coasting AND the exhaustion. If I had a laptop, I'd take myself away from my apartment with all its video games and books, and go find someplace to write. As it is, I set aside time earlier in the semester where I turned off my phone and my internet (I had to literally unplug the modem) and just wrote. It worked. I have most of a new story written. I'd have all of it done, but homework sort of took over my life at the end of the semester. Not entirely unexpected. Well there's no homework now. I've got time and that empty feeling that tells me I have taken the "unwinding" period a little too far. So it's time to reestablish the writing period. Let's see if I can do it every day. I think I can.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Look What I Made (episode 2)
The semester is drawing to a close (thus the return to blogging). I thought I'd take the opportunity to share with you what I've been doing in my secret lair.
This studio, in contrast to the last one, was essentially one big full class project. We actually had a client this semester, which is a very different experience than designing for an abstract academic principle. We've tried to set such a thing up on previous semesters, but ran into conflicts over who owned the rights to our work. This time, with this client, the school was able to reach an agreement, so in February (a bit later than originally intended) we got started working for ACS, in particular the division that builds equipment for airport parking ticketing operations. Most of you have seen their handiwork at Atlanta, Dulles, Reagan, and other major airports. They're the top supplier for the top airports in the nation and were looking to improve their product for a variety of reasons.
We spent the semester on the problem and eventually developed three potential solutions. We all worked on the background development and early concept work. When it came time to work on the final solutions, I had a more direct hand in shaping two of them: Monolith and Organic. Ask me about them sometime and I'll be happy to tell you more. Hopefully we will be seeing one of these coming to a major airport within a year or two.
My Interaction Design class is the only other class that worked towards a physical product this semester. There were seven of us in this class and together we produced three pieces for an end-of-year exhibition titled "Play." This exhibition was focused on using the principles of interaction to modify and expand upon the experience of iconic American toys. My group (there were three of us) used the concept of "affordance" to develop a giant Simon game. Instead of pushing buttons, players jump on them. With an eight foot diameter, this version of Simon encouraged 4 (and sometimes more) people to play together. The exhibition was a success and the Simon (once we worked out a double-press problem in the software) gathered lots of players.
So that's two years down and one to go. This next one is the thesis year and it should be an interesting experience. I'll keep you informed.
UPDATE: And here's a video of the Simon in action one of my teammates just posted. We're into the double digits at this point, so there's little actual jumping anymore... We eventually made it to 17 before losing interest.
This studio, in contrast to the last one, was essentially one big full class project. We actually had a client this semester, which is a very different experience than designing for an abstract academic principle. We've tried to set such a thing up on previous semesters, but ran into conflicts over who owned the rights to our work. This time, with this client, the school was able to reach an agreement, so in February (a bit later than originally intended) we got started working for ACS, in particular the division that builds equipment for airport parking ticketing operations. Most of you have seen their handiwork at Atlanta, Dulles, Reagan, and other major airports. They're the top supplier for the top airports in the nation and were looking to improve their product for a variety of reasons.
We spent the semester on the problem and eventually developed three potential solutions. We all worked on the background development and early concept work. When it came time to work on the final solutions, I had a more direct hand in shaping two of them: Monolith and Organic. Ask me about them sometime and I'll be happy to tell you more. Hopefully we will be seeing one of these coming to a major airport within a year or two.
My Interaction Design class is the only other class that worked towards a physical product this semester. There were seven of us in this class and together we produced three pieces for an end-of-year exhibition titled "Play." This exhibition was focused on using the principles of interaction to modify and expand upon the experience of iconic American toys. My group (there were three of us) used the concept of "affordance" to develop a giant Simon game. Instead of pushing buttons, players jump on them. With an eight foot diameter, this version of Simon encouraged 4 (and sometimes more) people to play together. The exhibition was a success and the Simon (once we worked out a double-press problem in the software) gathered lots of players.
So that's two years down and one to go. This next one is the thesis year and it should be an interesting experience. I'll keep you informed.
UPDATE: And here's a video of the Simon in action one of my teammates just posted. We're into the double digits at this point, so there's little actual jumping anymore... We eventually made it to 17 before losing interest.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
They Call Him Doctor Fancysocks
My good friend Penrock has successfully defended his dissertation. It was a pretty rough defense, and he needed all of the tricks he learned in school in order to survive the ordeal. Apparently, that myo-sim karate class we took in undergrad really came in handy. I wasn't at the defense, but I bet it was ferocious. His attackers included ninjas, monkeys, and even an astronaut with space dementia!
Fortunately, Penrock, or Kenrochet as we sometimes like to call him, is brilliant. He withstood his attackers (they made the mistake of picking the shotty-snipers gametype) and defeated them soundly. Mike is magnanimous and, as a symbol of his graciousness in victory, would probably have been willing to make reasonable changes to his thesis, but the fallen foe was too cowed to even ask.
Mike's advisor (who will probably be played in the movie by James Gandolfini) begged him to remain and help them rebuild. Mike simply put his hand on his advisor's shoulder and told him: "Now you run on home to your department head, and tell him... tell him everything's all right and there aren't any more guns in the valley." Then Mike got on his horse and road away. His advisor ran after him, calling him to come back, but Mike didn't turn around.
We here in Atlanta are all very proud of him. Well done, Doctor Fancysocks!
Fortunately, Penrock, or Kenrochet as we sometimes like to call him, is brilliant. He withstood his attackers (they made the mistake of picking the shotty-snipers gametype) and defeated them soundly. Mike is magnanimous and, as a symbol of his graciousness in victory, would probably have been willing to make reasonable changes to his thesis, but the fallen foe was too cowed to even ask.
Mike's advisor (who will probably be played in the movie by James Gandolfini) begged him to remain and help them rebuild. Mike simply put his hand on his advisor's shoulder and told him: "Now you run on home to your department head, and tell him... tell him everything's all right and there aren't any more guns in the valley." Then Mike got on his horse and road away. His advisor ran after him, calling him to come back, but Mike didn't turn around.
We here in Atlanta are all very proud of him. Well done, Doctor Fancysocks!
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Continuing Adventures of Mr. Mr. Smith
My father is continuing to recover from his heart attack (now officially labeled arrhythmia), although there was another scare last Sunday night. He started to feel dizzy again and experienced tightness in his chest, so he returned to the hospital. The ambulance crew recognized him from the last trip they took together, although Dad, understandably, did not remember them. The hospital ran some more tests, kept him overnight, and then decided it was probably a side effect of his medication and changed his timing so two pills wouldn’t interact.
So the week began on a roller coaster note. It continued in large part as a long wait for the cardiologist appointment on Friday. Mom stayed home from school again on Monday, and called her own mother to help. Grandmother lives just over an hour away, and my aunt, who happened to be visiting at the time, brought her to my parents’ house.
Grandmother stayed the course of the week and helped Mom with a variety of tasks around the house and kept Dad company. He’s had good days and not-so-good days. He’s not really the sort to watch movies all day long and was, I think, starting to get bored. Fortunately, my grandmother is crazy (it runs in the family). I’m pretty sure they kept each other well entertained. Also, she cooked. Dad is allowed to have peanut butter cookies, so she made plenty of those, among other things. I’m sort of jealous.
Dad’s doctor appointment on Friday went well. He confirmed what the hospital suggested earlier, that one of Dad’s medications was causing problems. He went a step further and decided that, ultimately, it was not necessary. So Dad’s off that one. All else is well. There was no permanent damage to the heart, and Dad is healthy enough that the doctor is dropping the recommended rehab time from three months down to one. They are getting a twenty-four hour heart monitor just to double-check, but the doctor believes Dad is in good shape.
Dad himself feels much better. That comes partly from being off the medication, and also partly just from getting the doctor’s reassurances. He’s moving around more (still not so much with carrying laundry, but Mom’s got him folding it at least) and his bruises from the surgery are going away. He needs to avoid excessive stairs and sitting up quickly. Also, breakdancing is probably out. He’s spending most of his time reading, eating, and watching movies, but is also beginning to get back into his workshop and generally beginning his return to normal activity.
Next week he comes here to visit me (the doctor has no problem with that) and he will return to work in March. If all goes well with the heart monitor and rehab, he’ll return to the doctor in May for a follow up. Then all should be back to normal (with the exception of those diet arguments he’s going to lose, but I’m of the opinion that’s an acceptable compromise).Sunday, February 03, 2008
Do you hear what I hear?
I have a kick butt subwoofer. Two of them, in fact. There's one in my bedroom attached to my computer (where all my music plays) and one attached to my entertainment system (games and movies). They're pretty sweet. I know because I've turned them on at least three or four times.
I live in an apartment and I am aware that subwoofer sound tends to carry. I have neighbors on two sides and one above. There are also three more, at the diagonals, who might be affected. This is Georgia, after all, and they're not big on things like insulation down here. Considering it's sixty degrees outside on this the third day of February, that's not surprising. Regardless of the reason, there's nothing in the walls to keep the sound from passing from apartment to apartment. Normal sounds like voices don't travel very well, but the low beats of a subwoofer treat the walls as abstract concepts instead of concrete barriers. I don't think subwoofer beats even notice the walls most of the time, just go about their business (primarily booming) as if they weren't there.
I know this because my left-side neighbor owns a subwoofer and is clearly not afraid to use it. I have pointed out its capacity for transmitting through walls on several occasions, and each time he is deeply apologetic and mildly surprised. He has not yet grasped that this is not a singular phenomenon. He can be forgiven for thinking so, I suppose, since I am not very diligent in pointing out his error. I have a significant capacity for ignoring background noise that simultaneously awes and frustrates Sarah, who lacks it entirely. Adding in my moderate-to-severe aversion to confrontation means I let my neighbor have his thumping bass most of the time and only interrupt him when it is affecting my sleep or my work.
If he were my only neighbor, I'd have no compunction about using my own subwoofers. Alas, he is not, and the other two are relatively well behaved most of the time. My upstairs neighbor does appear to have a healthy relationship, but fortunately not much stamina and that sound does not carry nearly as well anyway. So I leave my subwoofers off most of the time, and look forward to the day my living space is no longer directly connected to my neighbors'.
I live in an apartment and I am aware that subwoofer sound tends to carry. I have neighbors on two sides and one above. There are also three more, at the diagonals, who might be affected. This is Georgia, after all, and they're not big on things like insulation down here. Considering it's sixty degrees outside on this the third day of February, that's not surprising. Regardless of the reason, there's nothing in the walls to keep the sound from passing from apartment to apartment. Normal sounds like voices don't travel very well, but the low beats of a subwoofer treat the walls as abstract concepts instead of concrete barriers. I don't think subwoofer beats even notice the walls most of the time, just go about their business (primarily booming) as if they weren't there.
I know this because my left-side neighbor owns a subwoofer and is clearly not afraid to use it. I have pointed out its capacity for transmitting through walls on several occasions, and each time he is deeply apologetic and mildly surprised. He has not yet grasped that this is not a singular phenomenon. He can be forgiven for thinking so, I suppose, since I am not very diligent in pointing out his error. I have a significant capacity for ignoring background noise that simultaneously awes and frustrates Sarah, who lacks it entirely. Adding in my moderate-to-severe aversion to confrontation means I let my neighbor have his thumping bass most of the time and only interrupt him when it is affecting my sleep or my work.
If he were my only neighbor, I'd have no compunction about using my own subwoofers. Alas, he is not, and the other two are relatively well behaved most of the time. My upstairs neighbor does appear to have a healthy relationship, but fortunately not much stamina and that sound does not carry nearly as well anyway. So I leave my subwoofers off most of the time, and look forward to the day my living space is no longer directly connected to my neighbors'.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Helluva Monday
On Monday morning, my Dad had a heart attack. He's okay, they released him from the hospital Wednesday morning, but it was apparently a very near thing.
At around 6:20 am, Dad wrapped up his workout at the YMCA and began cool down stretches. When he sat back up, he felt dizzy and after that the rest of the morning is a bit fuzzy for him. The staff at the YMCA told my mother that he appeared to have a seizure. They began CPR, noticed his heartbeat was incredibly erratic and got the defibrillator. They saved my father's life. Doctor's told my mother later that if my father had needed to wait any more than three minutes for the defibrillator he would almost certainly not have survived. He was rushed to the emergency room where he received two stints in a major artery that was 99.9% blocked. There's another that's 80% blocked, but they didn't want to stress the heart too much in one go. It is a wonder, the doctors say, that this attack did not occur sooner.
In all ways, except the event itself, we have been very lucky. My father just recently changed gyms. The staff at this one knew just what to do, and did it quickly. The attack occurred in an open visible space, and he was already lying down. My mother, who is a teacher, had already made her lesson plans for the week and did not need to worry about the details of turnover. The weather was pleasant for Connecticut in winter and thanks in part to the gym change (which led to a fifteen minute trip instead of an hour trip to the hospital nearest the old gym) my Mom had no trouble getting to and from the hospital. One of her friends also happened to be home and was able to help her get Dad's stuff from the locker room and to bring his car back from the gym. Both my Mom's school and my Dad's office have been very supportive.
Everyone has been surprised. Dad had no symptoms of any problems. He's had no previous heart tremors. There was no tightening in the chest, no pain, just the sudden dizziness. Dad has always been fairly active, running, biking, and swimming regularly. His coworkers thought he was the healthiest among them and are in a bit of shock (Dad's boss reportedly took a look around the conference room at the number of men over fifty and declared that the company would buy defibrillators and train people in their use). He does not drink often, and when he does it's usually red wine. There are probably some food decisions he could have made differently, but both my parents are healthy eaters. (Mom more so than Dad; he joked on Monday that the biggest drawback was that he won't be able to win any food arguments with my mother any more.) He has, however, been under a lot of stress at work recently. The biggest contributor, though, was family history. Both of his parents have had heart attacks (both have survived them), as have a variety of other relatives. With his genes, "usually eating right" isn't quite enough (a lesson my brother and I need to absorb right now). His exercise and fitness level helped him survive this one, and will mean he should recover quickly.
My brother will see him this week. I'm a bit further away, so I won't see him until their trip here in February (already planned, and now approved by medical professionals). I did however, send him a box of goodies that should keep him entertained for a while. He won't be moving much in the near future and the doctor told him not to lift anything more than 10 pounds for the time being. He told Mom that means he won't be carrying the laundry to the basement for her. Mom said she'll make sure the laundry is in small piles.
In other words, everyone is in good spirits and Dad has a pretty legitimate excuse to miss that work trip he had been dreading.
At around 6:20 am, Dad wrapped up his workout at the YMCA and began cool down stretches. When he sat back up, he felt dizzy and after that the rest of the morning is a bit fuzzy for him. The staff at the YMCA told my mother that he appeared to have a seizure. They began CPR, noticed his heartbeat was incredibly erratic and got the defibrillator. They saved my father's life. Doctor's told my mother later that if my father had needed to wait any more than three minutes for the defibrillator he would almost certainly not have survived. He was rushed to the emergency room where he received two stints in a major artery that was 99.9% blocked. There's another that's 80% blocked, but they didn't want to stress the heart too much in one go. It is a wonder, the doctors say, that this attack did not occur sooner.
In all ways, except the event itself, we have been very lucky. My father just recently changed gyms. The staff at this one knew just what to do, and did it quickly. The attack occurred in an open visible space, and he was already lying down. My mother, who is a teacher, had already made her lesson plans for the week and did not need to worry about the details of turnover. The weather was pleasant for Connecticut in winter and thanks in part to the gym change (which led to a fifteen minute trip instead of an hour trip to the hospital nearest the old gym) my Mom had no trouble getting to and from the hospital. One of her friends also happened to be home and was able to help her get Dad's stuff from the locker room and to bring his car back from the gym. Both my Mom's school and my Dad's office have been very supportive.
Everyone has been surprised. Dad had no symptoms of any problems. He's had no previous heart tremors. There was no tightening in the chest, no pain, just the sudden dizziness. Dad has always been fairly active, running, biking, and swimming regularly. His coworkers thought he was the healthiest among them and are in a bit of shock (Dad's boss reportedly took a look around the conference room at the number of men over fifty and declared that the company would buy defibrillators and train people in their use). He does not drink often, and when he does it's usually red wine. There are probably some food decisions he could have made differently, but both my parents are healthy eaters. (Mom more so than Dad; he joked on Monday that the biggest drawback was that he won't be able to win any food arguments with my mother any more.) He has, however, been under a lot of stress at work recently. The biggest contributor, though, was family history. Both of his parents have had heart attacks (both have survived them), as have a variety of other relatives. With his genes, "usually eating right" isn't quite enough (a lesson my brother and I need to absorb right now). His exercise and fitness level helped him survive this one, and will mean he should recover quickly.
My brother will see him this week. I'm a bit further away, so I won't see him until their trip here in February (already planned, and now approved by medical professionals). I did however, send him a box of goodies that should keep him entertained for a while. He won't be moving much in the near future and the doctor told him not to lift anything more than 10 pounds for the time being. He told Mom that means he won't be carrying the laundry to the basement for her. Mom said she'll make sure the laundry is in small piles.
In other words, everyone is in good spirits and Dad has a pretty legitimate excuse to miss that work trip he had been dreading.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Look What I Made
In the ID program we make a lot of stuff. In an effort to broaden my repertoire of skills, and also to continue a path my Dad started me on when I was little, I took a class last semester called Wood Products and Processes. It began with basic woodworking skills and then progressed on to the use of some of the fancier machines. The place where I took this class is called the Advanced Wood Products Laboratory (AWPL). I always thought the name was sort of entertaining, largely because I associate wood products with craft fairs and that’s hardly advanced. Then I saw the equipment they get to play with.
AWPL is a full research facility and, along with machines to test the strength of various wood products, they have a full suite of production level woodworking machines. One small corner is devoted to things like tablesaws, bandsaws, planers, jointers, and the like. The rest of the shop is a little more complex. The AWPL has a deal with a machine company that works essentially like this: the company stores their new zillion dollar machines at AWPL and lets AWPL use them whenever and however they want; AWPL personnel, in return, train the company’s clients on how to use the machines. The actual machines at the AWPL change over time as existing machines are sold to the customers and new ones come in from the company. There is always at least one computer controlled router, at least one double-sided belt sander wide enough for whole sheets of plywood (not that you’d use it on plywood), and a host of other miscellaneous machines.
Our first project for the class used none of the big stuff. Indeed, I did much of my work at the architecture shop that had the twin conveniences of being next to my studio and open on weekends. The goal was to make a splined box with veneer tops and in the process learn about
jointing, planing, miters, dados, splines, veneering, basic finishes, and general assembly. Alan, our instructor, also used this as an opportunity to teach us one of his fundamental principles of wood work: “If you don’t think you’ll be able to hide it, make it stand out.” The splines on my box are deliberately obvious for this reason. If you try to hide it (very difficult) and fail, it will look like a mistake. If you emphasize it, it will look like a deliberate feature. We’ll call this The Alan Principle because I’m going to refer to it again.
The sides are poplar, the top and bottom are veneered with walnut, and the splines are made from aromatic cedar. The whole piece is finished with several layers of tung oil (three, I think, but I’m not sure). I designed it with my mother in mind and gave it to her for Christmas.
The next project made use of the computer-numeric-controlled routers (cnc). It was an attempt to familiarize us with the cnc so we were not allowed to do any other kind of machining. The entire piece had to be tab-in-slot or slot-in-slot construction, no screws, bolts, or any other addons, and needed to come from a single 2 foot by 4 foot sheet of wood. I made a cord-hider to deal with the rat nests under my computer and behind my entertainment setup. It’s made of half-inch birch plywood, again finished with several coats of tung oil.
The final project was a full piece of furniture, meant to be a flatpack, knockdown piece. In other words, it needs to be able to ship flat (the actual requirements were “fit flat in the trunk of a car”) and to be easy for the customer to assemble and disassemble. Ikea is the prime example of this, but much higher quality furniture is possible. I made this as a gift for Sarah and worked with her (with some inspiration from Jo) to come up with the basic design. After which, I kicked her out of the design process so there would be at least some surprise.
I used walnut plywood for the sides and top, and poplar plywood for all the horizontal surfaces and the inlays. The top opening is for glasses. You cannot see it in the pictures, but there are channels built into the top piece to hang stemware. It’s also tall enough for pints or other glasses to stand upright in the opening. The second opening contains a series of grooves that will each hold a wine bottle. They’re subtle but secure. The cabinet portion is tall enough to hold a variety of other bottles.
For the finish, I was getting a bit tired of tung oil. I made about twenty four samples of possible finishes using various dyes, stains, and topcoat layers. I showed them to Sarah and she picked… the tung oil. This time, though, there’s also a few layers of high-durability polyurethane on top of that to protect the wood from spills (alcohol does terrible things to most wood finishes) and other damage. There are blue highlights around the edges of the inlays, inside the wine bottle grooves, and inside the stemware channels. The inlays are deliberately raised away from the face, another application of the Alan Principle.
I also used the lasercutter to add two personal inscriptions inside the doors: one for myself,
and one for Sarah
(I only wish this had occurred to me earlier so I could have done the same with Mom’s card box).
For more creations by my classmates, check out the AWPL Gallery Page. I did pretty well in this class, but some of my classmates were amazing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this class and definitely got a lot out of it. Not the least of which is access to the cnc router and the rest of the AWPL equipment any time I need it. If you've got a project for me, let me know.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Johnny Lee!
Johnny Lee is awesome. More awesome possibly than even I am. That's pretty awesome. Want proof? Watch the video below.
I spotted this on one of the design blogs I read (Core77, if you must know - their writeup on the video is a nice compliment). I sort of skimmed past it, but the name caught by attention and I backtracked. It was indeed my friend from UVa! I was very excited to see someone I know. Then I watched the video. Then I shared the video with every person in my class, probably twice. Then I read his website, checked out his projects, and browsed his photos. A day later, one of my professors passed around a copy of Make magazine during a discussion and there, on page 84, was Johnny's $14 steady cam. I'll say it again, Johnny Lee is awesome.
Who is Johnny Lee? Many of my readers know him, or have met him even if they don't remember it. I went to UVa with him, we were both in the Rodman Scholars together and shared a number of classes. Even before he got there, he had already patented a 360 degree camera and continued to awe the Rodmans from that point forward (a pretty impressive group themselves). Watch carefully at the minute mark in the video above and you'll spot the electric cello he designed and built in a group project our freshman year. He's at Carnegie Mellon now, pursuing his doctorate (it doesn't stand a chance). Aside from being incredibly intelligent, he's also one of the nicest people I know (and I know a lot of nice people). I'm delighted and excited for him that he's doing so well.
With this video, it's entirely possible he just revolutionized video gaming. I can't wait to see what he does next.
I spotted this on one of the design blogs I read (Core77, if you must know - their writeup on the video is a nice compliment). I sort of skimmed past it, but the name caught by attention and I backtracked. It was indeed my friend from UVa! I was very excited to see someone I know. Then I watched the video. Then I shared the video with every person in my class, probably twice. Then I read his website, checked out his projects, and browsed his photos. A day later, one of my professors passed around a copy of Make magazine during a discussion and there, on page 84, was Johnny's $14 steady cam. I'll say it again, Johnny Lee is awesome.
Who is Johnny Lee? Many of my readers know him, or have met him even if they don't remember it. I went to UVa with him, we were both in the Rodman Scholars together and shared a number of classes. Even before he got there, he had already patented a 360 degree camera and continued to awe the Rodmans from that point forward (a pretty impressive group themselves). Watch carefully at the minute mark in the video above and you'll spot the electric cello he designed and built in a group project our freshman year. He's at Carnegie Mellon now, pursuing his doctorate (it doesn't stand a chance). Aside from being incredibly intelligent, he's also one of the nicest people I know (and I know a lot of nice people). I'm delighted and excited for him that he's doing so well.
With this video, it's entirely possible he just revolutionized video gaming. I can't wait to see what he does next.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Men are from Delta Halo
Video gaming is still a predominantly male pastime. In my social group, this is certainly the case. Most of the girls play one or two games, but the guys spend a far greater amount of time at it. As Penrock and I have recently discussed, this is having a curious effect on the paths of communication within our group. The girls call and email each other periodically, but the boys play together over Xbox Live on a more regular basis. Significant information is flowing through that channel faster than through the women's channel. Xbox Live has served host to such important announcements as a pregnancy, a new house, two new jobs, and an engagement (not all for the same couple).
The trouble with this particular communication channel is that it has men on either side, and as far as their wives and girlfriends are concerned, they're not conveying enough details. It is unclear as yet whether this is because the men are distracted by gunfire during the conversation, or if it's because as guys, we just don't think to ask. Regardless of the reason, it's driving the girls crazy. We get the big news first, but are completely unable to answer their questions about it when we relay it to them. The guys cannot tell them when the baby is due, what the fiance's name is, when the move will be happening, or who the new job is with..
So it's not the boradest band of communication. It does at least serve as a prompt for the ladies to call each other and retrieve further information.
I suspect this is a similar phenomenon to that experienced with poker games, sports nights, and other regular traditionally male gatherings. The difference here is that this network, thanks to Xbox Live, exists across hundreds of miles.
Hmm, maybe I better get one of those Xbx360 things for myself. It might be prudent.
The trouble with this particular communication channel is that it has men on either side, and as far as their wives and girlfriends are concerned, they're not conveying enough details. It is unclear as yet whether this is because the men are distracted by gunfire during the conversation, or if it's because as guys, we just don't think to ask. Regardless of the reason, it's driving the girls crazy. We get the big news first, but are completely unable to answer their questions about it when we relay it to them. The guys cannot tell them when the baby is due, what the fiance's name is, when the move will be happening, or who the new job is with..
So it's not the boradest band of communication. It does at least serve as a prompt for the ladies to call each other and retrieve further information.
I suspect this is a similar phenomenon to that experienced with poker games, sports nights, and other regular traditionally male gatherings. The difference here is that this network, thanks to Xbox Live, exists across hundreds of miles.
Hmm, maybe I better get one of those Xbx360 things for myself. It might be prudent.
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