Mirth,Toil and Spoil

MySpace Cancellation

2010-02-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

Today I cancelled my MySpace page. I hope my 4K "friends" won't miss me. . . . .

Create vs. Consume

2010-02-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

Today, I am taking control. Over the past four years I have increasingly suffered the consequences of Media Overload. And though my filter has adjusted to acceptable refinement I continue to feel that it could be better. despite years of practice, and a near constant distillation, time still escapes. Therefore in a proactive effort I have devised a possible solution.

The most obvious and popular solution is to abstinence, what better way to avoid the possibility of wasting time. However there are two obvious problems with this. One is that it isn't very fun. Working all the time. We need distractions sometimes. The second problem has a hundred cliches at it's side. "No man is an island" accompanied by " Nothing is created in a vacuum" meaning that inspiration, and creativity are the result of external factors. The processing, of course, occurs internally, but that spark's origin is the very product of distraction.

My goal is to find balance. This balance would be between creating and consuming media. Over time I have found sites, and . . . distractions, which I would define as utterly fantastic, sometimes last for years. The medium changes, or the display, but creative practice is widely shared, and completely timeless. Therefore time is not involved. The problem is me.

My solution is to make sure that I always create more than I consume. Whatever that may be, writing, drawing, photography, or video. It is no easy task to always be on, unless of course you never turn off.

Perpetual motion.

It may work. I may be able. The possibility of this solution opens compelling gateways. Could it be possible that by creating more, I will get more. Though the coin has different sides, the other is that I could be adding more garbage to the heap. The world knows we need less garbage. So the goal is, only create the good stuff.

FarmVillian

2010-01-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

I am not sure when exactly I started playing Farmville, but it hasn't been very long. However in terms of usage, and time wasted it has moved even beyond Facebook as the number one black hole in my universe. I remember also it was at least six months after I was introduced to it.

This Fall is when it took over. I began spending more and more time cultivating and developing my Farm. I even took snapshots and began saving different iterations. This came crashing down at the new year. In an effort to accept my addiction I sold off most of my Farm and invested instead in an estate. This in an effort to end my Farmville experience and move on.

A month later I am still removing the talons. Here is where it gets amazing, and even further reason why I warn against this behavior. I have been contemplating BUYING Farmville currency so that I can hurry my end. Just a little bigger, how about the fountain, and the hammock! How about a greenhouse and another few windmills?

This has got to stop!

I will resist, but the contemplation is beyond me. When is enough? When can it possibly be done? Each day brings with it a struggle. To make it worse the people at Zynga, who designed and run the game. Matched donations to Haiti this week and raised over a million dollars. So now my removal is selfish to boot!

Lincoln Face

2010-01-22T08:24:00.001-08:00

Today I feel inspired. Not really in the classical sense more in the creative sense. There have been a lot of changes so far this morning so I thought I would take that a bit further and update a woefully inconsistent blog. So this morning I woke up early and took the dog out, which isn't that big a deal, other than the fact that I hardly ever do. The second thing that happened is that the full on beard, yes beard, as been trimmed back to a Lincoln-esque chin strap, which I may hold onto. It has been many years since I last grew one, and since I recently turned Thirty-Five I think that perhaps this is what I need. At least it will be a change.

The act of growing beard is a difficult task for me. I am not sure exactly why. Especially since most of my male relatives all have beards, and have, for most of my life. I on the other hand, grew one once in college, and then a second later. The first was a bet held between ten or so friends of mine. The bet was whoever shaved first had to buy a case of beer for whoever still had a beard. The obviously is a cruel game, as the early drop out had to buy a lot of beer. The details of the turn out are hazy, however I was near the end. One of the biggest problems with the contest was that one of the participants already had a beard, was a Forestry major, and didn't shave anyway, how he was allowed in the contest is suspect. Other than the fact that he is completely genuine. A good trait certainly. So thats the first time, a bunch of dudes in a contest.

This was when I realized the difficulty of the practice. The first thing is that the actual cultivation is a process. Now all of these observations are probably strictly personal and can not be attributed to anyone but myself most likely. The truth is that in me it creates a bit of anxiety. I am used to the procedure of the shave. That procedure is difficult to omit. The second is that when I don't shave I tend to feel more self conscious than I do normally. It is through this simple omission that I sometimes feel I have abandoned my place in society. What that place is and why I feel this way is unknown. So with that being said this has, for me, become a personal challenge. Every day.

The second time I grew a bread was when I moved back into my parents house in my late twenties. I was, at the time, out in the woods, building a cabin. So at the time these anxieties were moot. Eventually however I cleaned up. That is the single hardest hurdle, the fact that I don't feel especially clean. Personal, but real.

This time it is a bit different. This time it is the pursuit of change rather than an escape. And so day five starts. I know, I know, five days does not a beard make, but today another day has passed and in that I am successful.

The final aspect worth noting is that it is now a Lincoln. I for one, am a fan of the tall president from the midwest. Even if he was the first Republican. For me at least, he personified our frontier heritage. He also instigated our country's evolution into a world power. He is a representative of freedom, and I pay tribute to that with my facial hair. We love the frontier. When Brown is elected in Massachusetts we are surprised, yet he represents the very aspect of our history that is disappearing. Depending on your location this is an attitude and a lifestyle that carries different names. It is a pioneer, a cowboy, and an explorer. It is freedom. People don't like to be told what to do. This is why Brown has elected. We are the residents of the new world and with that comes the baggage of rebellion. That rebellion is equated into driving trucks, hunting, and thriving by our own means, with minimal governmental control. There is no loss with Brown as he is simply change.

And that is what this is all about.

London '96

2009-11-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

I was inspired recently to share the story of my European travels in the spring of '96. It started in London. There are a few reasons why it did, on of which being that I had friends there who I could stay with. The other reason was to see this painting:

As I walked up the stairs into the National gallery my heart began to race. I followed the signs to the Renaissance and there on the wall it was. It was at that moment that I look back to, as to when I woke up. It was then that I actually heard the cherub's conch shell. Standing before this painting as a struggling sophomore college student, I had an awakening, and it was one of the most memorable epiphanies I have experienced.

Not wholly contained within the paint of Botticelli, or even contained by the place or time. For the first time in my life I had pursued my own end, not through an assignment or a project but the pursuit of my own passions. I felt the glance of light and flew up and through it and it was then that I finally opened my eyes.

Form is a Verb

2009-09-10T15:14:00.001-07:00

The show is in four days. When I check my calendar this project began in April. I have attempted to forecast what I would encounter. As it comes together I find myself more and more worried about each final step. I can't say I have ever suspended fifty square feet of kentucky bluegrass from the ceiling. In four days I will.

Today I drove over to Saratoga Sod farm: http://www.saratogasod.com/ for the Blue Grass. I have been watering it as instructed. Tonight the plan is to set up the frame and prepare for the final steps tomorrow. This will the first time is a long time where I am not planning on working through the night fours days prior to an opening.

In the next few days I will provide fabrication shots. This is an adventure for sure.

Ok. . . . SPOILS

2009-03-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have decided Spring hasn't arrived soon enough so I am heading here:

GeoFacebook

2008-12-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

So now I am working on a project where you get a text message every time you are in proximity of one of your social network "friends" based on GSM data. So now instead of poking people on line you can have an ACTUAL CONVERSATION. . . . its a new idea.

At long last !

2008-11-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

Time and this fall seems to have disappeared in a flash. With my own course added to extensive travels and two other, my weeks turned to months and then it was gone. Of adventures there were a plenty but time and the past disappears. The weather has been bizarre as we started with snow in the middle of october to be followed by three weeks of spring, as though the entire season were rolled into a month. Enter the surfacing of a perhaps a fourth dimension, whereas toil seems to imply negativity there is something to be said in passing that is certain. While toil would presume a lacking of happiness, in fact in truth I have while traveling through time space and galaxies, light years and jumps been in suspension. With no regard for even really what day it is I have fallen or risen, to be the solitary worker high atop a tower, with a view to the expanse of the kingdom, or then I, now sparked and beginning, switch up the analogy.

It was the final decision of the council as to an end that all prisoners be sent adrift. Forever lost and away into space. Herein the best spoils await as I, am now fortunate enough to focus and concentrate my approach, attention and creativity into the trajectory that is my future. It is also true that this course is not a permanent one and of late I am glad to report that my time is not wasted, but in fact a finite laser. So perhaps it is true I still yet have a chance to save the planet. Which is actually rather exciting.

One of the most difficult aspects of my hiatus into the mountains has been my distance and the disconnect I have felt from the ocean. Though perhaps not "sine qua non" which in turn solidifies both my endurance and my resolution that the ends justify the means. Or really these means that are but a trifle of this demensionality.

I admit I have lost a bit of speed, the gravity slows, or lessens the trajectory, unless as it is, I am falling into orbit. I guess the reverse then would be that I am being tracked, or a tracker beam from unknown origin is reeling me in. This, I realize, borders delusional, unless the pilot of said beam is time in which case the mark is true.

Admissions are that I sit on a quiet overcast sunday afternoon catching season four of Battlestar in HD . . . .in a blog that increasingly becomes an exercise my ability to paint an analogy. I don't imagine that much is heard outside these walls. . . . I again adrift,floating. . . . but then yet still I could be the sole reader for myself, in which case, hello reader.

Which this reminds me of a project currently in process here in the building created by John Umplett (http://www.johnumphlett.com/)
So there is a air raid siren, basically a three hp motor that spins two air baffles that make some serious noise, apparently 120 dB at 100ft. Now imagine if you could could run the siren in a vacuum, would there be a noise? The answer is that. John is creating an acrylic case for the siren. Inside a transparent box . . . . is there a sound? I love the concept.

My own work of late consists of a life-sized reactive aluminum fish skeleton. I have spent the past few months hand tooling the aluminum to create organic forms in metal. This has been an intriguing exercise for me as I think through and develop the possible solutions. The interaction with the sculpture is minimal. I have taken observations of the behavior and reactions of trout in wild. When a ripple is made, or a fish is startled, as they glide beneath the surface there is a flick of their tail as they glide on. In same cases they disappear beneath the shadows of the a dock or the shore's low branches. Though in some, they glide into the light and shimmer. It is that moment that I would like to emulate, that wonder. . . . .yes, thank you Zack Eveland.

So that is the project. I suppose it really serves no purpose, which doesn't bother me, as I believe I won't have access to metal shop forever. There is also the truth that have the opportunity to work and create is exactly why I decided upon this decision in the first place. In many ways I am sorry that I haven't done more in my time. My rather slow and exhaustive development of a Dunny by the encouragement of Kid Robot has ended in what appears to be simply appeasement. I am quite happy with the project as my skills and ability with prototype development have increased exponentially, However this project falls short of mass production, as was it's goal, and is simplified to actually a single prototype. Is it a Dunny? Perhaps. There is no question I have spliced the DNA, but beyond that there is no similarity, a genus includes a wide range. I was interested in creating a transparent interactive toy, that could be dynamically adjusted by a user. The complexity is simplified to nothing more than an LED, but as anyone close to the field will tell you the power capable in an LED is boundless.

Energy, Data . . . .and LED is what I believe to be the center of not only ubiquity, but future technology as a whole.

Maybe I am wrong. But then again, maybe I'm right. Too bad it's shelved. However the good news is, the the last thing my new york one bedroom needs is a load of incomplete semi-realized projects. SO today while I await precision metal fabrication tools, I am finishing the project, jokingly referred to at the Nooney.

Directions

2008-10-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

In a surprise move google maps have been added to bus stops in Manhattan . . . .

In actuality the proposal included an iPod touch locked within a solid security device to keep them from walking. These devices are automatically refreshed via local wi-fi and even include daily sales from Forever 21 which is what you want in Union Square! The roll-out was delayed since there are a lot of bus stops in Manhattan. . . .and in the end, the application became available for any mobile device and could be utilized using GSM therefore removing the need for the initial infrastructure. But whatever. . .

The equation

2008-08-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

over the course of this summer I have been re-evaluating the master equation that is my life. I have been thinking back at who I was before, and back, then comparing that with what I have become and who I am now. Is there a constant is that me? I took some time away from this electronic world for summer to see how it would affect me. I find the transition back in a distraction. It could be that my timing is off, where I would fall on idle tasks when I was through my weeds of the day, I now seem to start with them. I assure you this is only temporary but an interesting fact for myself.

I started this book this week. It is tremendous. Perhaps because it is a love story based in Math, but mainly because it is a splendid story. I read this in the wake of another great book:

Both of these novels excited an interest I have been carrying for some time and that comes beneath the guise of " sea change" as in the tide sweeps in and the beach, or you, are forever altered. In that cloud I floated for some time deciding which changes that have occurred were actually global, days in which I woke up and the world seemed different.

Most of this reflection came about because for the first time ever I have experienced such a change and I can not pin point exactly when it happened. I know that it did, but I am not sure how or when. Does there need to be an answer? Probably not. Recognition is the most vital.

And so the tide shifts.

Long Island

2008-08-21T15:25:00.001-07:00

So a short ferry ride from Portland Maine is an island in casco bay, called Long Island. This is a picture of the beach I had the best day of summer at.

It was sunny, empty and perfect.

Skywalker in Carbonite

2008-08-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Alright so those in the know would say that it was Solo and not Luke that got frozen, but this wasn't the case at my house. In fact for awhile there you couldn't see Luke at all inside the tree, Jabba had nothing to do with this, I did. It probably happened more than twenty years ago. Luke was put in the tree to hide. Well the tree grew around him.

we had some work done in the tree a few years ago and the tree nows seems to be thawing out our beloved Skywalker.

Maybe I put him there because I was upset he had mistakenly made out with his sister.

I really don't know as I would have noticed, or why I did actually, but I am glad I did.

Sum of Ah

2008-05-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

So again life changes in a heartbeat. I find as the days pass that I am planned out through next year. . . I have relied for some time now on the day to day as a scheduling pattern, but that seems to have changed, not since I started graduate school have I actually had a plan that spread more than a few months. I did plan my trip to Aspen in the Fall but that is about it. . . is there comfort in that sound? I admit that it creates a bit of anxiety in me, just like a faucet that leaks. Not much, but some. . . .

For weeks now I have been soldering away my nights. In fact it often feels like this semester has been one long continuous day.

I need more coffee. . . .

Native Sunshine

2008-05-07T10:20:00.001-07:00

IN three weeks I return to Manhattan Island for the summer. . . .

Define Spring

2008-03-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

So with the greening of the grass and the angle of the sun changes occur. In myself I find that I have a promotion of sorts. While a Digital Arts Technician I became the Design/Video/Animation technician as well. My days have an exponential level of chaos, within reason. For the next three months I will be quite busy, though the salary matches.

I found a like job at John's Hopkins but I'm not sure how we compare. Their title is Systems Program Analyst which encompasses what I do, though minus the creativity. Which can be valued in what way?

Is this a spoil I wonder. Math is in my favor.

On the side my project with Kid Robot is near completion. In fact next week I will be casting a proof in aluminum which might be the coolest option ever. I have completed the "Tech" design with a beautiful rubber enclosure that will house the controller,lights and battery, and only need a charge every four or five days. The final product will be a crystal clear custom character nine inches tall that emits full spectrum lighting. RGB-LEDs, Mini-Arduino, and a battery in a backpack worn by a Dunny I designed.

I was going to announce that Spring had arrived in Vermont only to look outside and discover almost three inches of new snow.

pretty. It is wet enough so it is sticking to the trees making the woods a bone-yard.

Hudson

2008-03-17T05:34:00.000-07:00

Last night I took the train up to Albany with the Paterson crowd. He is swearing in today and the train was abuzz. I realized as the sun set over the cliffs that that was the start of the west, the world. . . . and at first I thought it was New Jersey and wouldn't that be funny that that was the west, but as it turns out New York state is both sides of the river around Poughkeepsie, which means that the natural boundary to the west is buried in eastern upstate,er, swathed by the Hudson. I remember there was once a time when it was Mason-Dixon then is was the Mississippi. . . . . but the flyover's remain unscathed. The west starts with the Appalachians.

Darjeeling

2008-03-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

I have seen it at least six times. The story is what it is, but the film is more like watching a canvas come alive as paint is added, or seeing the image appear in the darkroom. It is one masterful painting that takes an hour and a half to view. The Darjeeling Limited achieves a transcendence in film few directors achieve so precisely. Wes Anderson has this ability. Every frame is the work of of a master.

I read the script while they were filming, Natalie Portman had a .PDF on her server for a few days, I admitedly wasn't able to get it, however I did from a repost later that day. I saw the film, and can say that Wes Anderson makes it happen. It was interesting to have read a pre-screened copy because there were changes. I am now going to re-read the printed copy. This has become a recent obsession, but certainly with just cause.

Spilling Milk into a Saucer

2008-03-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

. . . and I'm back.
so living as a pauper outside the city does have it's advantages. I am just now back from what turned out to be nine weeks of vacation. It was a photo finish actually as I was down to my last ten dollars, seriously.

I was more or less off-line and really kind of away. Which was fine until about week seven when I began to contemplate the reality of my existence and the purpose of time. Two equally thwarting strains of thought. So the one thing I have to report is that there hasn't really been any Mirth. Even the speeding ticket I got was dropped. . . . kind of an amazing story. I was puled over 87/55 which is pretty fast, but I was in a hurry, the Police officer had me back on the road in four minutes. Sometimes it takes them four minutes to get out of the car in the first place!

The Holiday's were fantastic though I did come dangerously close to marrying someone for a green card. That is a rather long story, but in the past now. As it turns out she has told me since she really didn't like my anyway. . . . at all apparently.

As the world turns though I reunited with someone from deep in my past and it has been quite good, though I find myself in a distance relationship again. She lives in the city.

So Colorado, I had never been to the state at all. In College I was told by nearly everyone I know that I should visit, it is because of that that I never did, I was fairly certain that I would never have left. Visiting now proved my worry. I would have staid, the good news is that had I staid I would probably be doing pretty well, but one can never know that. I also visited Aspen which isn't so much known for struggle, as men in fur coats and Uma Thurman. I don't know as I saw anyone "famous" except maybe everyone who was in the X-Games up in the real terrain. I was up in the Highland Bowl :

Which was probably some of the coolest on mountain skiing I have ever seen. There was over two feet of fresh untracked powder almost every run. I met a lot of good people, when you are hiking up, everyone talks, unlike the chair lift. My last run I went down with the Patrol, he was a great guy from Vermont actually, but he had been out there thirty years, so he's probably local by now. He told me to look him up the next time I am out.

The most amazing thing for me was that I had to drink almost a full gallon of water every day. I was hiking all day, and going out hard at night but that is a lot of water. It was also the first time I was ever exhausted skiing down.

However at the end of it all I didn't think the rockies were really that big. I think I need to go to Nepal, but Patagonia might be first. It would be pretty fun to do a first decent.

Spilt the Spoils

2008-01-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

There are no limits. On Tuesday of this week I hiked by this sign three times . . . . .
Aspen, Colorado 2008

Iceman.

2007-12-10T07:55:00.000-08:00

For the past four months I have been working on my own Dunny character. I was led to the project through interest in transparency. Traditionally these characters are all opaque. I wanted to see inside. I wanted to discover what they could hold.

The mold used for this guy, was cast from an original Kidrobot 8" Dunny. The prototype the mold created, was decided to be too unrefined so the mold's purpose was reallocated to ice. Where, more or less, it has performed perfectly.

Decisions

2007-12-05T07:01:00.001-08:00

Decisions: right or left, up or down, stay or go, climb or fall. . . . it's all shoots and ladders, sometimes you're up, and sometimes your down. But the one thing that I can never forget is that no matter how far down you think you can go, there is something worse, something lower. And the same goes for such great heights.

Our eyes are mirror images.

Thin Ice

2007-11-29T05:33:00.000-08:00

It may have been the cold. Or it may have been the passing of that last Holiday. Even the fading bitter-sweet fanfare of it's passing. In rapt anticipation I was held all month, through countless distractions and wanderings. Head in the clouds is a drastic understatement. Like a bird, and the song, thanks Nelly.

And it was all of those things, all that I imagined and hoped.

However when I stepped back to reality, and oops gravity the realization had the crisp clarity of thin ice held up to the sun. In the cold air the ice melts in the light and through it can be seen the world, time and the rest, but then it's gone never to return. Monday had me a bit out of sorts as I was in physically exhausted, by Tuesday that had more or less passed, though I am still fighting out of it. On Tuesday the emotional exhaustion set in.

Herein lies a fractal. A kaleidoscope of thoughts, feelings and experienced compressed into a flash, and the ice cracked. There are a million ways to die. One being falling through the ice. I applied for rent control in May and I have been in that process since, on monday I received notice that my application had been terminated. Which justifiably necessitated an appeal, because that had added my income for two years, which still wasn't much, but more than their quota. Anyway, this brought to the surface a rather intense fear that I have and that is the difficulty that Manhattan can be. As the ping went to shore of the crack, I knew it was on it's way.

So I began worrying about what is happening for the next two months, as I am not working, and there are no plans. I don't have solid living arrangements, job or activities. This all could be heard in the twang of the ice. And then as the hours of night slipped slowly past. I began to think about what happens this summer, next year?

It came in seconds. Kind of like ice cracking. You hear the sound, it gets worse, and then it's too late.

Jump forward about three hours and in a dream the floor turned to ice, and I heard the familiar. This time I fell in.

WildER

2007-11-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

Last night I finally saw Into the Wild . . . . . Which was a fine film, and I enjoyed it. I did find it online in a torrent, and it was filmed via a backrow handheld so the sound was echoed and people kept leaving the theatre. Over all, no complaints.

What was most profound for me comes close to the end, SPOLIER ALERT . . . .which I don't think it is, but just in case I should mention this, it depends really on how much you need to discover in character development. . . . . anyway, near the end he discovers that Happiness is real only when it's shared.

He was right.

PinHead

2007-11-17T08:28:00.001-08:00

Alright, I admit over the past ten years I haven't skied like I used to. There are many reasons for this. One of the biggies is that I lived down south, the skiing outside Atlanta, not so good. Dallas? It is reduced to a handful of times really. Our family always goes Christmas Eve, and I may make it a few other times. One of the last times I went I was with my good friend Gerhard Saas. I think we were at Sugarloaf. At the time I was skiing my Atomic 205cm Racing skis from High school. These were before shaped skis. This particukar pair were special for two reasons, one that they had a ceramic core, and that many people argued they were the fastest skis ever. The last detail was that they had Marker MR bindings, which were the newer version of these:

So anyway, that day atop a distant trail my binding ripped out of the ski. I skied down a wounded bird with a broken wing. That afternoon I tried my first shaped ski. It was a Salomen Xtreme. I could not believe it. I ripped moguls the rest of the day like a champ.

I didn't buy new gear that season, and actually that was now about five years ago. While in graduate school. . . . suffice it to say I've been too poor to do more than a few days a year. I am still poor, but this year, in Rome, I've rejoined. Never in my life have I lived within half an hour of three ski hills. I do now, so I decided to accept this fact.

So the short is that it is been awhile. When I pick up a copy of POWDER magazine I don't really feel a part of that. The industry has changed, the culture has changed. So I decided to do the same. I have decided I should be Telemarking. One because I'm not going for big airs and max speed.

I'd rather keep it slow and low.

Telemark skiing as put by Wikipedia . . . . the worlds souce:

Telemark skiing is a term used for skiing using the Telemark turn, which is a technique first popularized by Sondre Norheim. It is also known as "free heel skiing." Unlike alpine skiing equipment, the skis used for telemarking have a binding that only connects the boot to the ski at the toes, just as in cross-country skiing. Telemark turns are led with the heel flat on the outside ski, while the inside ski is pulled beneath the skier's body with a flexed knee and raised heel. The skis are staggered but parallel, and 50% to 80% of the body weight is distributed on the outer ski, depending on snow conditions. The relationship between the two skis often is metaphorically understood as one longer, but curved ski. The reason for this metaphor is that it is this curve that makes the turn ratio of the skier and defines the relationship between the two skis.

So enter one final detail. I am quite a fan of innovation: The NTN-system breaks with the traditional 75 mm system and solutions, which all present telemark bindings are based upon. It also provides many new features and advantages:
•symmetrical boot/binding (no left and right binding).
•far better skiing performance due to a new attachment point under the boot. This gives better stability and more precise transfer of power.
• no duckbill sole.
•improved walking/hiking performance.
•adapted for crampons.

The new NTN telemark binding from Rottefella will offer far better skiing qualities and more features than existing 75mm telemark bindings, including:

•better stability and skiing performance
•touring mode (like Alpine Touring bindings)
•ski brake
•easy entry and exit
•possibility for release function
•new and radical design
•Product launch plan:

• will fit into traditional Alpine Touring bindings.

But that is really just what THEY say. I haven't skied them yet.
Shout out from here. . . . .

. . .but then this is me totally geeking out on something that is more arbitrary than usual. I think on this the magic is in the details.

Pray for snow.

. . .so here's what happened.

2007-11-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

My parents were quite interested in seeing Blow-up as, through discussion, they decided that the last time they saw it was most likely in the theatre in '70 when they showed it as part of the film forum. We went to the local fine eatery and had quite a surprising nice meal. I had never been in the official dining room of this restaurant so, as it turns out, all I had ever seen was the dubious "lounge" menu, which I might add pales in comparison. It is understandable that Wine Spectator gave it four stars.

We were worried that the film had already started and that we would be a disruption for the small theatre. When we got back to campus the sign had been changed, we had plenty of time. We sat in the back and awaited the film. What played was something entirely different:

. . played with Pink Floyd's The Wall

I can say that I never thought I would see this particular mash-up, and especially with my parents. Which in itself could be one of the funniest moments in recent history.

Blow Up

2007-11-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

Manhattan

2007-11-03T01:31:00.000-07:00

Certain songs will always be associated with certain times in our lives, certain people, certain memories. I have always felt this way and even the most the most over used retain a clarity that does not fade in its associative power. The easy ones are the songs you remember because of the event. Such as the summer after senior year in high school, or your first love in the latter case sometimes it's a full album, and in my own case it was associated because she inspired me to get it. Kiss Me by the Cure.

Suddenly I find an exception, Just like Heaven, on said album, has been muddled. Or perhaps refined because now that song is far more encompassing, a connecting sprouting from a root.

There are also the songs that can sneak in. Songs that pass away or out of favor, until one day you hear them and there you are, back to moment you had forgotten, an archival quick search through time. My memory is pretty good so this doesn't happen very often. I can actually listen to a song and place it in the past, any song.

A close analogy would be air bubbles, such as when water boils. It moves up and through and sometimes combines with other bubbles and gets larger. sometimes these bubbles are a summer, but yet still sometimes they are a moment. Frozen until they reach the surface, and they pop, and release.

Nick Hornby wrote a book about this, High Fidelity he associated songs with ex-girlfriends, which he would pull from a massive collection of vinyl. In the book I missed half the songs for the most part because I'm not British. However the thought remained true.

I once shared this theory with a girlfriend who had dated the drummer from Third Eye Blind. We were in the car one day and one of their songs came on, I asked her if it reminded her of those days, at the time a few years previous. She said they didn't, but I still think they had to. She had probably heard the song millions of times. Of course not everyone is the same, and I'll be the first to admit that it is entirely possible that this association could be rare, but I don't think it is.

So over time this association has changed, at some point it shifted, where up through college it was largely chronological, it is now almost entirely random. This is due to my hunting through the vaults and exploring, actually,what I had missed the first time around. Whats more is that there are quite a few songs now that happen to be the only song the band was ever known for, or the only song I listened to. Foghat comes to mind. The list is short because traditionally if i liked the song I would buy the entire album, in most cases the title song would be grouped with the others. Though I am sure there are a few, INXS Listen like Thieves, only song on that album I remember. or The Farm.

The last album I bought was Death Cab for Cutie, PLANS it was the fall of '05 and I got it a few days after it was released. It was very much a transitional album as I had just moved to New York city, and I did in fact have plans. Most of the songs on that album fit in with that fall, but something quite interesting happened today that inspired this entire diatribe. A friend of mine said that I reminded her of the Marching bands of Manhattan. Which I had listened to randomly only a few hours before. I am unsure of the connection or where that came from. What was and remains interesting is that one the song now has a footnote or a subscript that connects it to her, but what is more interesting is that it opened a box I had never opened. Was I listening to it when we met? I may have been. Did I mention it? Maybe. This is the first time I have experienced a revisionist history. When she told me this I was speechless, and in regard to it, I still very much am, however I will say that it is a beautiful song.

What is most amazing about this bubble, and it was a big one, is that I didn't realize I was inside of it. Ok, lyrics:
If I could open my arms
And span the length of the isle of Manhattan,
I'd bring it to where you are
Making a lake of the East River and Hudson
If I could open my mouth
Wide enough for a marching band to march out
They would make your name sing
And bend through alleys and bounce off all the buildings.

I wish we could open our eyes
To see in all directions at the same time
Oh what a beautiful view
If you were never aware of what was around you
And it is true what you said
That I live like a hermit in my own head
But when the sun shines again
I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in.

Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty or half full
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown [4x]

My response was that I am a pretty good swimmer.

My association with songs is for the most part vague, I can place them, or contain them in a moment but that container is usually created or experienced by me, and me alone. There are a few songs that fit into the "our songs" container but few.

Actually last week I downloaded Purple Rain because I wanted to hear Darling Nikki, it turns out though that I was really looking for the Foo Fighters cover.

But sometimes, the container is around you, and through you. The song lifts you and carries you, a leaf in a stream, wind under wings. Today I felt that and was surprised. Oh what a beautiful view.

Pin hole.

2007-11-02T20:07:00.001-07:00

Surprisingly the cold air has brought with it the unexpected. As you may know I have recently transplanted my home to southern vermont under an umbrella of reasons which have reverberated countlessly. My decision has really been one of the best choices I have made ever. At the time it was dramatic and drastic but deductive. I should not, and do not complain save one detail that has surprised me with it's significance. I am alone here. Which isn't the real issue, as I have lived in that and with that for some time now, the difference lies in the fact that while everything matches a near storybook progression there remains but a single flaw and that is that I am without love. Was that the sacrifice I made? Perhaps it was. How do we know when the right one is upon us? In whose arms will these years of silence fall? It is certainly not something readily remedied, nor is it an aspect of reality I can change. It is and remains an unanswered question. My grandmother used to tell me a story of when she met my grandfather, he was absorbed in his work and she decided he was the one and didn't give up. They were married a year later and remained so. For awhile when I got here I successfully enveloped. I have held onto that because that is how I will survive. The remainders slowly fall away. One day I say, one day. In the morning I will wake up and begin anew. Rage against the dying of the light. But as I close my eyes this evening I am haunted. Sorrow drips into my heart through a pin hole.

Under the Rug

2007-10-29T17:14:00.001-07:00

Sunset.

2007-10-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

And they looked out and saw the scrapers paint the sky. . .

PIRATES

2007-10-29T16:58:00.001-07:00

Damien Hirst. . . . bought a share in his own art.

Micro

2007-10-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

. . . my second week of graduate school, September 2005, I thought it would be really cool to create a miniature projector that could fit in a cell phone. Six months later, a firm in Korea announced they had made one. Last week, Motorola bought in.

Spoils

2007-09-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

This would be little Kim. I think she had a run-in with Louis Vitton, either that or some crazy night with a tattoo needle.
This would be. . . . .spoil.

Summer.

2007-09-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Vermont

2007-07-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

So I got a new studio space.

Perspectives.

2007-07-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Today experienced the desiderata apex of my aspirations. I had an interview with the Interactive Department at Saatchi&Saatchi New York. Never have I experienced such tangibly quantifiable synergy in an environment.

I returned to my studio, beside my new fan (see picture) and debated on how long I have longed I have been waiting for an opportunity such as this.

But as I stared out my window above my window perched laptop grasping wireless from a neighbor I realized. Now is not the time for reflection, now is the time to act.

On this stage the spotlight is circling.

WIRED

2007-06-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

Imagine my surprise today when I pulled out my trade magazines and consolidation invites to see that the new WIRED had come, and on the cover was a picture of none other than yours truly! It was exciting at first, but then I questioned if I should take it out of the plastic.

Solar Bikini: Kurt the CyberGuy

2007-06-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

June the month of really big bugs that fly at the screen. Not as much here in New York but where I go when I dream. The air cool and drifting in like a cooling blanket of freshness. Again this is a dream, kind of like that moment when the sprayers come on at the grocery store and for a moment you are someplace else. The the Publix down south I swear they had tropical birds and thunder. These are the moments that transcend. In the still urban air this how I survive.

Here is the video

It has been an amazing month. It is in many ways a groove but I admit the groove is as yet not deep enough. Time with friends intermixed with work and quiet time. I have been reading a lot and that has been wonderful. The jump onto Tom Robbins could not have been more perfect. "Half asleep in Frog Pajamas" wonderful. "Diary" by Chuck Palahnuik and finishing up with "Fierce invalids home from hot climates" another Robbins. The first was my favorite descending from there. Really "a lot" is more like last week. I had about two weeks of relatively light duty. Two weeks with a but a few days taken, most nights but few days. This was a nice time for me to prepare as I got back on the horse, in the wagon, or on-board.

This all changed this week however. As though as the moon got closer so did activity here on earth. I am booked all of next week and I have been since Wednesday. When it rains it pours. Today, for example, I was asked to help out my dear friend Andrew Schneider. He is in chicago finishing his run with his stage production company, I was asked to stand in as the representative for the Solar bikini, an idea we loosely hatched as a team but I have no claim to. Today however I was repaid. It was a film shoot for Kurt the CyberGuy (http://ktla.trb.com/news/local/cyberguy/) which apparently is national television. Through an amazing chain of events I was the tech stand-in for the event. Because we had worked closely I was savvy with what the Solar Bikini entailed and spoke on camera to it's acclaim. Because I know the difficulty of both patents and production I sidestepped Kurt's prod. "production will be definite within five years" a gross over-estimation. I did push for both venture and investors which could realistically move production inside of three months.

So the solar bikini is a series of flexible solar panels wired in series that accumulate enough charge for any USB device. It was produced about a year ago so since the entire apparatus could be overhauled with a far more efficient series of panels. Solar technology has nearly doubled it's output.

The shoot went well and Kurt is a great guy. Where it got weird is with the model. It turns out Kurt met her on the plane from LA the day before and invited her to model. She was really a nice girl, but I didn't get far. She was LA as far as the night is long, if that is correct. I found myself in truth extremely embarrassed and shy. To that point I had never seen the bikini on a person, the mannequin is a bit different. So when this living mannequin put it on it was, I admit, weird. She had a lot of work done and was quite concerned with how she looked. She looked great in this mannequin kind of way. And although I felt for the duration of the experience that my head was being pulled through the eye of a needle I realized that I am not that guy. In the end all I can say is that it is surreal.

It was so surreal in fact that I didn't get any contact information from her, she lives in LA.

In other news I am going up to the UN on Monday was a symposium on the world's oceans. It should be great and most likely will be a new tale for the Admiral.

I've also have a few job opportunities in the pipeline but I don't like to talk about those. Mostly so that if I don't get the job I don't have to explain why. I will say that the opportunities are promising and one is quite possible the best I have found in the past month.

Summertime.

2007-05-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

I have heard that in China the environment and whatever it may throw at us is secondary to progress, it is believed and in fact practiced that human innovation will always overcome that which may happen. I have heard this surprisingly from many people I have met in the technology field. I will say that when presented with this argument I usually just walk away, not because I am afraid to counter but because I am aware of the vastly underestimated power of nature and I am afraid I might get hit by the lightning bolt surely on it's way for them. As an environmentalist I attempted to do what I could with my talents to affect change. I will always continue to do so but the fact remains. Is there really a future?

Graduation was now two weeks ago. I went through post-partem and acceptance relatively quickly as I shifted gears once again into the realm of the business world. At the beginning of the week I was invited out to a pool in jersey, it was a nondescript place in what seemed like an endless suburb, but nevertheless it was a pool with sunshine a grill and high hedges. For three days I stopped and looked around. I had forgotten my charger and the internet was down so I was off-line. Off line for the first time this year. I did have access to a giant 1080i flat screen with HD cable and I must say Letterman was almost disturbing in that detail, you could see where he had missed shaving! So maybe my vacation if that was what it was was surreal, but it did allow for a few deep breaths, enough actually for me to return to the city and regain my pace. I had three interviews today, all of which went well. But in the reflection I not only realized my own value within the field, but I realized the finite skill of inoculating memorable concepts into a fifteen second promotion pitch. After all of these interviews I realized that really that is essentially what it comes down to. I also realized that I have entered into a piranha field, even though the discovery channel says no one has actually died by piranha swarms today I felt the bite.

There was a group interview for Organic which despite it's very catchy title is basically a web shop. The meeting was informative and as I mentioned I feel I made a good impression. However in the audience of the meeting were graduates from the past three years. I wondered first as I was looking around if I would be doing the same three years from now, at thirty-five in the year 2010. A year, by the way, I have never even dreamed of. I wondered mostly at the fact that almost ninety per-cent of what I had learned in technology wasn't even around last fall. I also realized the opportunity and the power of the skills I had gained. It is certain that there are very many skills that are timeless, but the iron is right now as hot as it will be. I spent the remained of the day toiling through and around opportunities.

The second interview was for a basic part-time technology consultant. This is an awkward position to apply for because there really is no way to gauge the audience. Explanations quickly become greek to the less aware. Regardless I think it went well. It was for the Sagatiba brand, which is an alcohol company from brazil that launched here in the states only ten days ago. What quickly was evident was that this was a national branding campaign in it's infancy, of what could be an explosive market. My own roll would be far less exciting but one that would certainly alleviate my economic strains in retail.

On a far more interesting front however is my return to basics. Today I met a friend for coffee who lives nearby and I leisurely walked over to NYU where the Organic meeting was. Step back a moment to post graduation a week ago when I looked back through a semester of photographs and realized that I had lost months in the oceans, which is ok, but today I started taking photos again.

What has been most exciting for me this week has been the renaissance I have experienced with creating.What this brief time allows is an opportunity to actually get back into creating, a far more exciting and rewarding pastime.

So is there news? There is none and that actually, for the first time in a long time means tomorrow I have the day off, completely and utterly and nothing could make me happier.

Dirty Rat. . . . .

2007-05-19T12:33:00.001-07:00

And look what happened . . . . . . . .

but you knew that already.

Splash

2007-05-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today was my last official day of graduate school, after untold weeks and entire months of near constant complete effort today it ended. I still have a paper to write or two left, one of which will hold me in rapt for most of next week, today signified the end of the world as we know it. I think back to what I envisioned the summer before I moved to New York two years ago. I think back and wonder if anything has really changed. In truth I know that it has, I have succeeded through one of the finest new media programs in the world and arguably achieved something, what that something is I am not quite sure, but it is a near tangible reality, and this without the paper that states I am a master. Where I remain at odds is that this master is not as much a trade but a skill and to quantify that is probably one of the hardest things I have done. If you have no idea what ITP is, or what goes on there, it is even harder. I built circuits, I designed devices, I prototyped sensor networks and I created garments out of produce. And this only hints upon the two years of seventy hour weeks. So I tracked remote controlled submarines in the pool with sonar. I created a network of way-finding devices for the blind. I made underwater films intent on saving the planet through awareness. Does this list, and a list it is, really mean very much, I am unsure. I have more skills than I can list, yet not a trade. I am a furniture designer and have worked extensively in construction and Historic preservation. More importantly I am a copywriter, a suspect skill especially by me, as words flow and they always have, so the skill feels innate. So what then do I go out and do? The problem lies in the fact that my experience is in copy and I do enjoy the work, but it is the path taken that interests me, so now I have the skills to take that path and create. Yet as is known of water and stone,and economy, I need a place. So I have been looking for that place and beside a rather broad scan I have found that I am at a loss, rather than a gain. For the past two years I have come to know and respect a community of artists and technicians that have proven irreplaceable in respect to criticism, creative thought and in some cases implementation strategies. This community is set to evaporate in a week, leaving only the vague ties of association which I know they hold. It is a bit like the last day of summer camp when the busses are loaded and all the girls are crying. Except no one is crying and there is no bus. Some of my classmates, I am sure, will do well. It is difficult to regard these ties at the moment because I realize that however weak they are they have been a part of my daily life to it's fullest extent for a very long time, and the idea that that will be lost is something both daunting and sad. Could I have pursued more collaboration, should I have pushed? The questions can't be answered. The worst question of all now is "what are you going to do now?" Do I have an idea? If I did it would be far simpler. Of late my most exciting has been taking a water truck to Burning Man for a fountain. Even to simplify; imagine an umbrella in the park with a constant rain at it's periphery, when someone walks up it shuts off, allowing them to enter, and it resumes. If I built such a device, what would I do with it. As I work through the idea at a rate double of my typing skills I realize the prototype cost would be about $200 complete. What is that knowledge? So then, I have less than a week to present my thesis project. It was based largely on film integrating my knowledge gained, but largely a focus entirely outside what I have studied. In fact I produced, directed, hosted and filmed a project with no prior knowledge of the media, only the medium. I admit I did a bit of film in undergrad, but it has been too long for any of that knowledge to carry over. So on a blank slate I attempted to create an engaging medium of communication. This was as affective as it is, a vantage point I can not grasp. Am I a video producer? Yes, but in the new DIY for rather than a network. I don't have network funding. My greatest hope in all that I have worked on and created is that someone somewhere can see the depth and complexity I have wrestled with continuously for two years and realize that I have something to offer, not only something, but a skill derived through a practice placed in one spot on earth. A skill without boundaries or limitations, a skill, in fact, unrivaled. So here I am a copywriter with the skill of ten specialists and no where to go. Ok, so I really only actively started looking for a job today. I did start at the top of my list some weeks back, but today I spread wings. I am uncertain and that is where I am. It is funny writing finally as I haven't really since February, which is a good indication on how busy I have been. I also know that the laments of someone on their first day of a job search is a bit asinine, but really this perepsctive has been building I just haven't had time to let it out. Regardless, in a nutshell, that is April 26th.

But the worst part is that my disconnection is irrelevant.

Here is Mirth.

2007-04-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

So this rat got stepped on by someone who is pretty mean. . . . his brain squirted out his mouth. Gross.

Guggenhiem Time Sublime . . . .

2007-02-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

Last night through the invite of Clifford Ross and Jack Stevens I attended the Works & Progress lecture at the Guggenheim. We arrived around seven through bitter cold for an evening with Isaac Julien and Russell Maliphant. Isaac uses three screens in a triptic style with great results. It actually reminded me of a show I did in 1999 of my film " ga " where video played on two outer screens and the center large screen was associative slides. It was a nice presentation. Juxtaposition allows for outstanding contextual nuances through relational association that otherwise could be lost. It is the furtherst echo of the butterfly's wing caused tsunami.

Isaac Julien
Russell Maliphant

Truck

2007-02-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

My truck, caught on fire. No it's broke.

I watch the ripples change their size

2007-01-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

Something happened, there is a book written by Joseph Heller with the same title I read about five years ago and the title, and I believe the content, seem to mirror, but I'm not sure, certainly there was the change of the year, and I got my hair cut, oh and I turned thirty-two. But these changes are immaterial to the feeling that I have, and that i have experienced that something absolutely has changed. School has started again and again I am in swimming through the tsunami of discovery and creation, but on a deeper far more important level what has changed is that I have begun working on my thesis project.

See: http://www.studioaquatic.com

What this has created in me are sleepless nights and a near endless flood of things to do, connections to make, and work to finish. Unlike all the projects I have worked on in the past this one project is the culmination of everything that I have worked on and everything I have learned over the past two years. It is my one chance to express all of these ideas, notions and skills in a single thoroughly established project.

One of the most disturbing trends is that, save last night where I actually collapsed and slept a full eleven hours. I have, for the most part been sleeping only four to five hours a night. I go to sleep around one, wake up at three, work until five, then sleep until eight. This has been going on every night since I started classes again last week.

I have also noticed that I have withdrawn almost entirely into, or rather I have been focused entirely upon, my work at hand. The reality of this has caused a significant reduction in my social life, almost to a point of non-existence. Which is a dramatic contrast to the past six months. What is interesting is that despite this, the momentum I had desired is now there, where I could be meeting people, or even seeing people, I am interested in seeing, but I just can't at all. If you are reading this, and you feel that this is you, I apologize. The truth is I came to graduate school to better my life, and it is this semester when the final reckoning of that truth comes to fruition.

Lighter

2006-12-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

It was late and I couldn't deal. The subway, I knew from uptown would take at least forty minutes, what with the local, and waiting for the train. So for the first time in awhile I decided, cab. After standing on the corner of Amsterdam and the mid-nineties for at least three lights finally a cab with it's light on! though there were many, one stopped.

I got into the cruiser like back seat.

"The Village, 3rd and 6th" Which obviously is a north bound intersection from either broadway or seventh. After hashing this out for way longer than I should mention, we were on our way down broadway.

I was on my way home. I lulled back into the seat to let this extravagance sink in. Somewhere we switched over to Fifth, which wasn't a big deal, since our start in Broadway had led us there fifth was acceptable, not the fastest, but alright. At fourteenth we made a turn, headed back to broadway assumably. I didn't balk because cabbies know their job, right? Who am I to say Seventh to Vickery would be any faster, surely, or even to stay on Fifth. So I took the jog, he was driving. But then we ran into what I assume was a broadway pile, mainly what always happens at an artery. The cabbie continued on fourteenth. What?

Why, I am not sure. At Second avenue I reiterated my destination which didn't sit well with the over caffeinated foreign speaking cabbie, then down to third. A cut across at this point was easy, but involved legitimately lights the whole way. So I directed to Houston.

The cabbie was visibly shaking. I'm not sure if it was the end of his shift or he wasn't downtown often, more likely the latter. As we moved across town the cabbie suddenly became unsure of my destination, he took a right onto waverly and began screaming. At bleeker I knew the situation was dire. Somehow we had caught every light across town. It was at this point I called his bluff and said I only had ten dollars. The meter was clearing twelve as I said it.

If there is a final straw, and how that connects with camels, and my driver I will leave to you, but at this point the driver turned ballistic. A decision he made that cause him to miss third in an acceleration frenzy of rage. At this point we were forced to continue to ninth, take a left and head down fifth, a point I might mention that was not far from where we had started this errand. Meanwhile the cabbie was screaming at whoever he was talking to in a language that resembled his demure.

On fifth he nearly hit some walkers and caught the light. I took this moment to remind him of my ten dollar shortfall. This is when he lost it. He was going to take me to an ATM first so that I could pay him. He asked me where my bank was. I then pointed out his complete lack of driving ability as the clear choice from where we started was seventh, or even fifth as we were then still close to his second mistake being fourteenth.

As per our progression we caught the light at the arch, the meter was now near twenty. I was sticking to my ten spot, but the likelihood of it happening was dwindling. I actually began to wonder if I was in fact in danger because the driver was now ready to haul me into the street.

It was at this point I remembered the pint of grey goose I had for some reason in my pocket, I never carry, but tonight I was. I took it out and came upon an idea. Amidst the screaming to both me and whoever was on the cabbie's bluetooth I retrieved a napkin from my pocket and inserted into the pint. The cabbie, by some chance at this same moment happened to decide that all rules were off and was lighting a cigarette. I asked him for a light.

The napkin wick sparked to life as I stepped out the door. The light changed and the cab sped off, I presume the cabbie had not seen my exit. The flask ignited as he made the corner.

I kept my ten dollars and his lighter.

TenTwenty.

2006-11-20T06:53:00.000-08:00

Most likely I say the same things over and over. and in fact I am actually rather concerned that my so called blog referring to my life is actually nothing more than a series of whines. Certainly I have experiences that are probably worth sharing, milestones even, but for the most part there really isn't too much going on. I could easily go into the configuration problems I am experiencing with my RF transceivers and how I contacted TI to get a battery optimization IC but that type of language, for the most part gets lost in the translation of "So what is this for?" The truth is I don't really know. I started the semester with hopes that I could build a hydrogen powered media player. After about three months of research and discovery the unit would cost close to $1000. and in the end one of the things you realize when it comes to technology is why would I build something like that if I could easy buy five nanos that would be more reliable, have a warranty and better functions. So the projects move ahead. This semester I am involved in a series of group projects because one it is the last semester I have to do this type of collaborative work. Next semester is Thesis and that usually is a solo project. I have been thinking about it and I am at a loss of what direction I should take. For my Network Effects class final I am going to design a centralized social software portal. This is an exciting platform because anyone that uses social software, seemingly the backbone of communication while in school and for nearly everyone in there twenties and early thirties in an urban environment. The availability of a platform where MySpace, Friendster, LinkedIn, Ryze, Tribe, Orcut, ASW and Facebook could all be accessed and mixed one one screen is very exciting. It also could be developed into a highly profitable model. So That is one thing which has started to simmer. Another is to take what I have learned this semester in terms of battery optimization and alternative fuels to create a sustainable watering station for my mom at the farm. If I were to build this for her though, I think I would like to build multiples and test them on other farms and in other environments. This also could open the door for grant funding which would also be nice. So there is another. The third is to actually work with the trainers we are building the bike generator for to create a sustainable gym. This would be a big project but could be a great way to use my time here in the city in a proactive manner. Finally I look back at my idea to create a school of robotic fish and the idea doesn't sit as well as it once did. Mostly because the purpose is rather limited. And then I look back at when I started this program and how I wanted to explore methods through which I could make the narrative structure of story telling interactive. I have wanted to work in video nearly my whole life and I simply have just not had a chance to do so to date. So obviously I have to do some thinking on this. I don't as of right now, have any real answers, just questions. So that is where I am at and I'm not really too sure where that is. One thing that I know will help will be for me to start looking at, and applying for jobs. This will get me out into the workspace, a foreboding next step that I have yet to take and it will make me evaluate what it is that I am after. On the personal front I have this cycle met a host of wonderful people. The problem beside the fact that I am working all the time, in school, and during this Holiday for Rugby, is that I really have little to no time to spare. It is because of that limitation that I have been trying to take it slow. Being patient and relaxing is hard because every other part of my day is so very intense that it at times feels a bit like a battle. At the very least I hope that I have just met a series of really good friends. If that is all that comes of this then that at least is better than where I started. There is also this internal battle that I feel my professional life is very much set to start-off at light speed and on auto-pilot. As much as I would like to stay a private consultant I wonder how far I could stretch that. So I feel that the one thing lacking in my life is someone to share the adventure with. The battle isn't a difficult one, I realize, because each day that passes shows me the possibility, but still I wonder. I can not imagine what would ensure if my days were not so intricately planned. So this is why I remain a bit aloof to the prospects of romance. This is only a temporary distraction I am sure. For the most part though the biggest problem I face every day is what it is I am going to eat. This may seem like a rather shallow and ridicules compulsion, because it is, but that is my problem each day. The rest seems to all happen by it's own accord. In the coming week I will get all the parts I have been waiting for. Buzzers and ultrasonic transducers for the transceiver project, an alternator for the bike generator and tertiary to all of this is the final project I have yet to mention and that is to design a device for the aged. Initially I wanted to create a euthanasia device so that people could opt-out if they desired. I researched explosives and found that a condensed square of CL-20 could easily vaporize a human. CL-20 is the successor to the more commonly known explosive known as C4. Of course this came about because I had a dream many years ago in which people were disappearing in mushroom clouds. I did research this as well and I decided that radiation was probably worse than body goo. It is far more affective however. The problem is that this doesn't really help anyone and the obvious problem is what would happen if old people wandered around blowing themselves up. So I am stepping back a bit on this idea. what came out of it though was research into clothing that could protect and monitor people as their bodies grew less reliable. I found the Icon TiMax jacket which is made for motorcycles but could easily be re-appropriated as hip protective wear. Using a design that has a sense of retro-futuristic appeal I think it is possible to create safety wear that could be both desirable and allow for the bumps and bruises of old age. The TiMax jacket, which is obviously over the top uses titanium reenforced armor plating. At the beginning of the semester I found this product called () which is affectively armor plating that hardens upon impact making it a lightweight protective shield, They are already using the material in ski suits used in the giant slalom event. An lightweight armor that protects a skier from a fifty mile an hour spill into the barrier is something grand indeed. I see this developing into a sort of protective undergarment with vast potential. This again could easily become a thesis as it would probably take that long to implement a working prototype. So this is where I am at, in case you were wondering.

Next week is Thanksgiving and I am scheduled to go up to Concord,Ma for the party. It should be a good one as my cousins are all flying in. I unfortunately have work scheduled for both Wednesday night at NYU and Friday at Rugby so I will be jetting up for just the day. Making it all happen will be amazing. I am thinking that I might not even bring a change of clothes. When I return i will officially have one month to wrap up everything that I have mentioned here. I have until the end of the week for Thesis.

So I didn't sleep so well because writing this opened the door to me thinking about all the things mentioned here. The first, and why I got interested in the Bike Generator project was because I actually wanted to have a rowing machine attached to a generator. But at some point in the past six hours of my pseudo sleep I realized that without a good flywheel the energy would be transient, as after each pull there is a recoil. I also started thinking about what I would like to see in the Nature of Code, what I realized was that I really would like to see a place created where a notion of the super-computing possibilities are explored. Imagine if you could log into a site to become part of a simulated living organism. In the case of a single computer the L-system, and generative possibilities are exciting and engaging but what if there were a few hundred working simultaneously attached at the same root. It would seem that in this case a true organic life like structure could grow. A friend of mine is attempting to grow a grass sphere, I have been helping him. It has been interesting because apparently this is the first time he has ever planted seeds. It has also been interesting because I have learned quite a bit about the resiliency of the root structure. In our tests we actually have grown grass in a soil ball wrapped in pantyhose. As I thought about it in the dawn I think growing grass through cheesecloth might result in a sculpt-able medium. The idea of a living sculpture is very exciting. There is another complication that I haven't mentioned when it comes to thesis and that is that very shortly we will have to pick our thesis advisors, all of whom have a specialty and an area of expertise that will determine their choice. As in whatever I choose finally will directly affect which advisor I will sign up for. Though this is in many ways secondary. It does however create a bit of a problem as I feel as though I will be setting out on an irreversible tangent.

SkyCaptain

2006-11-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

Time has not really been on my side of late, in fact I have so little time it had been two weeks since I had talked to my Mom. Luckily, however I will be headed up to Concord next week.

At the beginning of last week I realized something very important, and it has happened before, but every time it does in fact happen, I am always extremely surprised when it happens. I realized that I really should not worry. I should not worry at all, in fact. Life goes on, as it always does, and I should really enjoy each and every second I see fluttering away on an hour hand that sweeps in seconds.

I realized while walking to school the other morning that I am almost done this extrememly extravigant lifestyle I have been living. Six months is no time at all. In fact six months ago I was, wait wasn't that yesterday?

I like anyone feel worried about the future. I worry about economics almost too much, actually it is more like a constant din, that I can neither affect or control, so in many ways I am just giving in. Considering that my rent is more than the mortgage of most people I know, this is understandable. I also have accumulated a fair amount of accidentals that I REALLY hate to talk about. It just disappears. . . .

which this brings in something else that has happened in the past two weeks and that is that I may, very soon, be offered an apartment nearby for about half it's market value. I say may, because it may not happen. But so far, the co-op board is very supportive, which is amazing. It certainly is nothing fancy, but the location is. Ironically the price would lead me into a mortgage pretty close to what I am paying now, which for those of you who know, a one bedroom in the west village usually runs for at least 600k. So the opportunity is a bit surreal. This is probably why I started freaking out about finances again.

Now the worry I really am leaving, of late, is the worry of being alone. While the truth is I meet people all the time, sometimes it leads somewhere, sometimes not at all. But in my schedule of no time, meeting new people is all that I can really do and focus upon. I have had a terrible trait of moving too fast in relationships and for the first time I think I can actually be patient and let it happen. I have decided also that the best thing for me to do it approach everything as just friends, this takes away the pressure, and also makes it so much easier. I don't know why I got so heady, but I did.

it's also been raining quite a bit and that could be part of it as well. I luckily have my umbrella with me always. . .

I blame it on my friends getting married, though I do realize that everyone's friends do. I could blame it on many things, but the truth is the blame is all my own. I may be getting old, and I may be nothing special. But really no matter what I will be living with myself always, and if I mislead or hurt anyone then that simple fact makes me sad. And so as I take this next month in stride, which will very much be a full time work blurring of days and nights, I can say that all I move forward with is a pure heart, that is not sure at all what it is he wants. I'm not a player, so please don't make me out to be one.

At least this is how I feel right now. . . .

Heaven

2006-10-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

October dawned as a surprise. I was walking across MacDougal and there in the middle of the street was a perfectly placed maple leaf, reddened by the falling season. Until that moment I had been living not only in summer, but in August. In the street, a sign. The leaf had blown solely south a block. There were no others. Autumn. From that point on the days got colder. The very next day it seemed the pathways in the park will filled with the clutter of those who had not escaped. Looking back I should have picked up that one leaf.

My schedule is beginning to settle into constant requirements. I don't know as I will ever be ahead, the steady level of productivity is at once a burden and the best it could possibly be. As ever I have taken on a mountain and in the coming weeks I will continue to climb, we all know you can't fall off a mountain.

This week was especially good as I was hired on the spot at Rugby, which is a small branch of Ralph Lauren. The best way I can describe it is modern distressed preppy. Whereas A&F was a casual luxury, Rugby is luxury casual. I probably won't be rocking the Bow tie to work, but I could. The greatest part of this opportunity is that I now can walk the five blocks to work. I start next week, so it is too early to presume.

That same day I was further enlightened by finding $80 on the sidewalk.

Runnin'

2006-10-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Avast the market driven clamor for ubiquity. Follow the column skyward as an anvil shrouded in an electric blanket churns the darkened sea. The hull shadow passing deep through the uncharted, eclipsed and swallowed by a horizon wide whale. Across the still plate of ocean stirs a squall, blink and the sails thump to a perilous list and the rudder hums. A lowered mainsail does little, as the jib dips ocean plane to our port side submersion. All hands nearly swept to sea by the torrent.

So last week I received a call from casting director for the Bachelor, which is, if you don't know, a story about one man trying to find love from a pool of twenty-five women during a weekly hour long television show. The show is now in it's ninth or tenth season. During the course of the call I was asked to make a video about who I was and why I would be perfect for the show. Admittedly I didn't do much research and I almost immediately began to realize the many important aspects I had left out. We started filming this morning at nine, twenty minutes later we were done. I then edited the footage and had a proof set by lunch. It came out well though, as I said, I left parts about me out. I sent it out mid-afternoon and it will be there tomorrow, at the casting office in LA. What I regret not mentioning is more of my successes. Also I regret not mentioning a bit more of my romantic dreamscape. BUt this certainly falls into hindsight and I should be happy. There are rumors that the show is being set in Hawaii. I should find out on Friday. This obviously is not the strongest way to start a new semester of graduate school as it calls into question the what ifs. What if I was actually chosen? As has been my reaction in the past to such, I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Today I had my first class and got back into the lightspeed transition I had been missing so intensely these past few weeks. My schedule isn't so secure as I am thinking about adjusting my classes a bit. I have an intense next few weeks as I have a wedding to attend in Maine next weekend and the following weekend I am hopefully back up again for the Common Ground Fair, which is the annual festival of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners. It means traveling quite a bit but I may be able to do it.

Sustainability has become my mantra of late. It began when I came across a Hydrogen Fuel cell powered toy car. It began far sooner really though the storm has now arrived. One of the hardest things for to me grasp in my first year of the program was the lack of sustainable practices because the two seemed disparate. In the past few weeks I have been able to entwine them almost completely. The Hydrogen Fuel cell being the first step. It arrived today.

For my Industrial Design class I was able to find recycled donated materials almost immediately. I found that one of the difficulties of the cardboard chair was it's lack of strength. In the past, among the chairs that I have seen, this is compensated for by bulk. In response I have chosen to use cardboard tubes which are far stronger and, I think, bring a more aesthetic dynamic to the chair. I contacted an architecture firm and have found a near unlimited supply.

Back to the Hydrogen. So beside my interest in using the Hydrogen cell to power my projects, the device uses as solar cell to convert water. I have been throwing around the idea of creating a hydrogen fuel celled boat. About six years ago I remember reading that Lotus had developed a 600 hp. electric engine. I think that a self sufficient electric boat could be one of the most exciting developments of our time. Surely there are filtration issues, though in fresh water the problem is far easier. Currently I am researching the efficiency of desalination to solve this problem for the sea. For the sailing world I am sure, without a doubt, many sailors would much rather use a fuel cell than firing up their twin-Volvo diesels.

On the other side of the coin I am working at creating a flash driven LCD video display. To again bring in the Hydrogen, a media player without batteries is an exciting concept. And to take it a step back, due to the low solar returns it is possible to create a media player, running on hydrogen, that is recharged simply through a USB.

One of the greatest aspects of the Interactive Telecommunications Program is that with the millions of tangents possible in technology there is always a profound support structure, of both interest and support. Within the dynamic program red Burns has created every aspect of expression can be found by a single point of separation.

September 18, 2006
This past weekend I attended the wedding of two of my best friends. This particular wedding was unique in that the couple had been dating for the past eleven years. It was, however, the very first time that the families had come together. In my mind, due to the duration, they were never disparate. Over the course of the weekend people I have known a very long time finally met, for the very first time. It is actually likely that beside the bride and groom, I was the only one connected so thoroughly. The confluence of the network during this event was nearly tangible. Of the possible connections in the first degree, I was missing only two. Both of which were caused by distance, one, an ocean as well.

At the reception, as I looked around the room. I was impressed by the how little had changed. Sitting to my immediate right was my freshman year room mate. He got on board while I was in Europe, his conversion is another story entirely, the introduction not to my credit. To his left was my other good friend, up from DC, and his girlfriend. He introduced, the groom, his freshman year room mate to his old high school girlfriend, the bride, and there we were. Probably as close a network as possible without family ties. We are spread now all over the country, and have been for about nine years.

Back at the wedding, accountability is often the connection, as memories, and time are recalled fiction doesn't ever work. With these two families I have been more infamous than not, though amazingly over the course of the weekend I learned my details were often more exacting, which is quite good. Save the one event that humbled me. Which I will get to in a moment. There is also a great possibility that there was a collective wish to leave skeletons in the closet, though I doubt that. So,the wedding was held on Mt.-Desert Island in Maine, one of the most visited national parks second only to Yosemite. Since my University was a short drive away I am pretty familiar with the trails. We decided before the wedding, to hike up to a beautiful Japanese garden I knew about. We hiked in, it turns out, I hadn't been there in twenty years. Jump five five hours later, the wedding is over and it's picture time, we all caravan over to these beautiful Japanese Gardens, in an entirely different spot about a mile away. I was immediately made accountable.

What I learned this past weekend is that a wedding is mostly about trust. Trust in each other. If the foundation has been built upon subtle fictions, and allows for the possibility of an instantaneous cancellation, it is nearly impossible to create that trust. It could easily be said that a good beginning has no end. This is what I learned last weekend, and also what has become evident with my online experience.

September 19, 2006
In the morning, about six hours, I am boarding a plane to Portland for the weekend. It will be close to my 28th year at the Fair. The subway took the longest. Second comes waiting for my mom at the airport. All three of which were less than an hour mind you. I arrived and I did work in preparation for the weekend, namely cutting the stems off of two hundred pounds of onions.

September 26, 2006
The fair this year seemed to happen all at once. From Thursday on,The routine. more likely the drill. Add to that three sets of siblings, and a day of rain, and you've got the gist, maybe three cases. But that was only inside our tent, my brother kept me up Friday night until 1:30 and a twelve pack was gone, 7am wake-up. I rolled through it. I think I made shish-kebabs for seven hours strait. The fair itself was great. Though what was amazing was that almost 40k people showed anyway. 17K in the pouring rain. All of us had a great time. Sunday it was slow enough that we had a chance to walk around. I talked with a man who made traditional moccasins, Alex Ernst and I both talked with him separately. I also talked with the Hydrogen guys, the windmill guys. Saw a wonderful windsor chair maker from Bowdoinham. The list is endless. It truly is an amazing weekend. Especially now that the fairgrounds are owned by MOFGA, there are sustainable projects everywhere. It is something to have gardening lectures in a garden, or sustainable forestry, hands on.

Monday morning again at 7am for clean-up. I did my industrial design project, a Vase, in the afternoon. Tuesday morning I flew out of Portland to JFK, I was in class by 2:15, at Eight I finished work and went home.

September 30, 2006

The Vase went over well in class. Unfortunately no one countered the work, which despite it's possible agony is often the most useful. That was Thursday, In the afternoon I went to help my friends at, CuteCircuit.com, Ryan and I have known each other a very long time. At six I returned to the ER, until nine. Friday I spent the day reading, working that night on the late shift. Which brings us to Today. For the most part I have been wrestling with programming code. No real breakthroughs, just broken.

I finished Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough today. It was indeed an illuminating read. Last night I went over to Chumley's with Steve for a burger, he had the Shepherd's Pie. We had a nice time, even though it had been only two weeks since I'd seen him.

October 1st, 2006
Officially I have transitioned into high gear. After a rather lax September I now how a mountain to climb. I will say the sacrifices made were requisite for survival, as I am now locked in. As the minutes click by I am ever apparent of the massive amount of work I have due in the next few days.

Pink Elephant

2006-07-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

I was uptown for a cookout and saw a rug on the street. It was big I could tell. When I got it home I found that it was far larger than I thought. No one throws away a 12x16 foot Persian without a reason, and when I unrolled it I found it had been water damaged, which is a good thing, because I had to cut it to fit in my place. It's not hand made or anything but it does now cover wall to wall. Getting it south seventy blocks was a bit of a challenge and I found I was sore for a few days. Lugging and unwieldy 200lbs is not so easy for someone who hasn't really done anything physical beside long walks for months. Which brings to mind another pressing issue and this is the New York Marathon. I have about 100 training days left. I got my packet today. I am starting to really look forward to it. Though I really do have to start running. Surely I should be able to squeeze an hour or so out of my days.

I got invited out to the Hamptons for the weekend. I have to awake pretty early and settle for coffee not so good, but I am sure the adventure will be grand. I spent the evening finding my gear. In the haul from UWS I also got a quite fitting beach bag, which is now amply packed. I am probably bringing too much, but isn't that always the case. The wrench in it is I have to have "out" clothes for Saturday night. Always a complication to be sure.

I woke up early, early enough to miss the 6:37 train by less than a minute so I got to wait an hour. I settled into Starbucks Sumatra and finished up my book. I arrived in Bridgehampton at 10:18. By 9:15 on Sunday I was back in the city. The rest was amazing. I met a guy who it would seem had never opened a bottle of wine for himself; at least I hope that was the case. I watched him struggle with it for a while; finally some one waiting in line for the corker took it away from him. I don't remember his name, which is probably a good thing. We spent Saturday in Sag Harbor walking around a bit, went to some galleries, and I was shown town. I went to what quite possibly was the best sandwich shop ever called Espressos. We split a sandwich, which was made inside an entire foccacia loaf. Truly amazing, I would recommend the #12 which was a priscuitto, and fresh mozzarella sandwich with baby greens, fresh salad dressing and ripe tomatoes, amazing.

Back at the house we ran "Sliding Doors" which was interesting. I somehow had missed the movie and I am surprised that I did. Especially since it was built on a premise I have spent many years contemplating. We had dinner and got ready. Dinner was quite nice though I probably should have eaten more.

Around ten we headed out to a house party, where I met the wine guy. I also met many other people. It was a strange scene to say the least, very New York, but on sand. I was the driver for the evening so I found myself very conservative. Awkward a bit, but mainly because I didn't really know a soul. First we drove to a place that was dead and didn't go in. Then over to the Pink Elephant, which was not.

We got right inside despite there near hundred people waiting at the ropes. Inside it was still early, yet nearly full. Outside was where it got interesting. There were about eight private cabanas surround by about twelve hotel units all of which had something going on. The area was centered on a catwalk in the sand that was soon to have a fashion show. I was introduced around. The fashion show happened, or sort of LES mix of haute couture. We staid until about two. The crowd was mostly tens mixed in with tourists, like myself. Though I was in good company. It's quite nice to roll with a carload of A-list girls.

After we drove over to Murfs in Sag Harbor, which was a bit more relaxed and much closer to the house, about a mile. We got in half past four. The following morning we went over to the beach, the friend I was staying with is training for a triathlon so she wanted to get a swim in. I walked along the beach and picked up rocks. We returned to the house and packed up. We then took a drive down to South Hampton to see the ocean, which was epic. LONG sand beach, huge houses and no people.

The details of the weekend are just breezed upon here, as there is too much to properly depict. It was worth every minute. The best part is I have a return train ticket already for another weekend, which I look forward to using.

I returned to the city to get back to work. It is really something that such a short amount of time can seem so very long. The schedule looks as it has for most of the summer I am working pretty much every day until August. I can say that I wouldn't really want to summer out there but to visit a few weekends is totally a blast. Of the people I met I don't expect anything was started but there is always a hope. Always.

The Spoil is just Fungus.

2006-07-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

For some time now I have been working nearly every night. It is an easy shift from four to ten, but what that leaves is a long day of idleness. When I can I schedule things to do during the day but pretty much everyone I know has jobs, which leaves me, a bit idle. The number of things that can be done in the city for free are small however I have found one that I find I enjoy quite a bit. After a leisurly morning of email and coffee I have, of late, been walking west to the Hudson for the afternoon. Last week I spent about two hours in Chinatown however on a mission to find a straw mat, that would double as my towel. I did find one eventually but it took far long that I ever imagined and I got a big one instead of a small one, which would have been easier to carry. Though when there is someone with me, its perfect. All of this means, you do realize, that I have to go back for the small mat, perhaps tomorrow. I take a book, stop off at the grocery for some fruit and water and head to the shore. It's far nicer than Washington Square park that is growing more and more shady as each day passes. Not to mention a near constant breeze. This doesn't seem like much, but when it's over ninety in the city a breeze helps.

So this is a picture, much like the picture I took a few months back, if you were reading, but this time with some summertime flare. I admit that the river, especially in this lettle section can be a bit of a scene. I have been into some really good books of late as well, though the first, a series of stories wriiten by cuban women, I have not finished. And the second, a NYC Hispter romance. . . I know sounds awful, . . . I just started. It's just that I got myself onto a pre-read list so once a month they send me a new hardcover book. Which is not so bad. What is interesting about this one is that it is written by two authors revolving around, and jiving at, the same theme. Which is surprisingly affective. It kind of makes me want to find a hot writer. I know a few, and i can think of more. I just need to work on getting on their call list,(you know who you are).

So that's it from here, you?

This.

2006-06-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

. . . is a bit of what I would like to be doing right now. Instead? I am working a hundred hours a week in the midst of what is about seven different projects. As it is I work until nine or ten then go out until two, wake up at seven and do it again. Livin' in the City.

Fluidity in the Real

2006-05-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

You can't even imagine how long it has been since I haven't been constantly and exponentially tangential.

. . . It started in the Fall. I began graduate school in what has been called: "The most creative incubator on the planet. "

Recently we have been discussing the fact that there is a convergence of Art and Technology. The coded CS guys are sprouting, the artist float. I, through this, hope to prove a ground.

This week I launch my passion into the world. I have since my birth held a love for the sea. I remember it all, trips to the beach. If I were to pursue anything it would be a life aquatic. And so I begin:

http://www.studioaquatic.com

Once the week, and the semester were over, I jumped in the car for a weekend in Maine. I hadn't been back since September so it was welcome. My cabin was exactly how I had left it, plus a family of mice that had moved in.It was raining for my first four days but on the fifth the sun shone and I had a chance to throw axe. There is a new house on the corner built on the wettest section of what once was field in the neighborhood. During the flooding we all watched his lawn, then his driveway wash downstream. My grandmother's house downtown has become a bakery of sorts as only a converted pseudo-victorian could be. Save that is simply the same as it was a year later.

My niece Mia, turned two and my cousin Sarah, turned sixteen all on May 12th. It was a rainy weekend for Maine but it was nice to get out to Peaks island for the day. I was a bit media crazed/ When the batteries died on my camera I switched to my phone, which I think might be even more geeky.It was a wonderful time with Family and good to see the troops as it were.

It has rained in floods here, over ten inches of rain for the weekend. FIMA has been called in for this natural disaster. Damns broke and rivers swelled. The woods is nearly all standing water, even up the hill. Not the greatest time for a vacation, but a perfect time to relax. I should have brought a book, I know now.

It has been a bit of a struggle being home as I, and I'm not sure if it is the silence or being away from the energy that is NYC but I have felt exceedingly lonely here. Which is quite strange because essentially I am with those people with whom I am closest. So I wonder.I think perhaps more it is the fact that I largely have no schedule for the next three months. Somehow I need to pay rent, and somehow, hopefully, that will come together. Everything I have going is frighteningly slow to progress. But in this time I have had time to exhale. Something I am not sure I have down in nearly a year.

Loneliness used to come on for me like a cloud, sneaking like a shadow. It was like on a Spring day when the temperature drops with no sun. Like a storm is pending. During that I spent time with friends and smiled it all away. I would call the birds in a quiet forest, and they would come. For much of my life I spent my time alone.That has all changed in the city, though I haven't a great deal of true friends I do know a lot of people.
Technically no one is ever alone here in New York. What is surprising is that loneliness isn't really like that here, it is more like a constant, more like something that is always present, and that I am forced to accept. It is like the sound of traffic if you live near a highway, it is always there. This would be different if I had someone in my life whom I was with closely every day, I think. I do hope love might one day find me, but I wonder if it can here. We build walls for protection.
As it is now there is really no one. I have friends, but no one to whom I would show weakness. It is funny to feel alone when you are surrounded constantly by people. What is interesting is that this anonimity in the crowd has spread into places I had thought were shut. There is a protective shield that surrounds me always that I fear is affecting who I am. Maybe what is changing is that after ten months in the city my light is fading. I have for so time been known to wear my heart on my sleeve. I am finding that this is growing ever more hidden, the walls get higher. This could be because I am so busy that I rarely feel as though I have any time to myself. This could be the rush of the city, or my reaction to the loneliness. This fact coupled with how hard it is to meet people I find that these days I rarely do.
I am not one to start a conversation on the street, or in the subway, perhaps I should. What is more troubling than that that is I notice I am passing judgements far more frequently. Do I give another glance to that woman on the street. Could it be that experience has led me to this seclusion, my age, or is it just the city? Where has love gone, and in that why do I find unrest where once I found comfort?I attribute this to my relationship nightmares of the past year. All started well enough surely.
What comes of this is I wonder what I am looking for. So that is the first step, is it the beautiful? But it is not as though I have a well defined image of what that is. I am just, over time, growing jaded. Passing on the street all of this is decided in half a second, the second half second evaluates the details. Clothes, shoes, purse, all. I am ashamed to admit this because in this same test I doubt I myself would pass; wearing flip-flops, jeans are ragged, and my hair, generally out of control, long and generally unclean. Yet still. My trouble is that I feel that my faith in love is fading away. Is it impossible to find love in a city, especially this city where most people avoid contact? Is this the loneliness?
In many ways it is like a flower in the forest, or in the spring, even, in a garden. Previously I was in the forest so there weren't many flowers to look at, or even notice for that matter. I would see them, however, always. Now it is like I am in a flower garden surrounded by thousands of flowers, and I notice only a few, if any at all. An analogy that works quite well is; " Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink." That is what NYC has become for me.
Is the loneliness simply that our culture has based it's foundation on a plastic fantasy. Out in the world, outside this city, I felt closer to the romantic ideal. Here, and especially the longer I stay, I feel that getting increasingly distant and external. So maybe the solution is to find that one person to share the adventure called life, with. Will then this loneliness subside? My hope is that it will. I should note here that I fail to realize ever the stratification of socio-economics which too could be my downfall.
However I will admit that there is something there, something in that cool new york exterior that I miss. It has been nearly ten months since I have been out of it, or rather since I have gone back to what I know well. I miss it. I feel a bit out of synch. I rather I feel as though I did the day before a race, and hint of apprehension, and anticipation rolled together in a swirl. After only ten months in Manhattan I'm not sure if I am able to unplug. I'm not sure, more importantly, if I want to.
What I wished for in the move was a new start. I wished for a beginning ripe with discovery adventure, and thrills. I have found all of this, but now I wonder if I can do without it. Time will tell. I do hope to escape before it makes me hard.
Planning for the summer has been extremely difficult. Especially since it has been now, three days, since I finished school, and I have two days before I start my summer plan. Searching for a job is not an easy task, nor is it one that can be taken lightly, so mix that into finals and a show and you have my situation.
It is too early to tell what will happen next week, and I don't like talking about possibilities so I must refrain from the thought until it is determined. If everything works out than I should have a wonderful summer. If it doesn't than I will have a summer filled with a posse of bills tight to my trail. Certainly a reality most of us face, but one I know means not a lot of perks.
When I moved to my apartment in August I brought all that I could carry, which isn't, by any means, much. Getting back to Maine and seeing all that I left behind I wonder what it is I really need. My closet is filled here too. I did find a stack of great T-shirts I hadn't even thought of in months, but in truth I wouldn't wear most of them anyway.
It would be nice to have my bureau, and my captain's chair. While I'm at it, it would be nice to have my artworks. I imagine these things in my shrinking apartment. It would be nice to have my stereo so I could listen to music on something other than headphones and my laptop, or not have to wear my shuffle while I'm cooking. It would be nice to have all of these things. Do I really want to bother with moving them? Not especially. In fact I wonder if I am even going to bother packing the cool T-shirts. I already have twenty or so I don't wear. Not to mention that I rarely even wear just a T-shirt anyway. I also found my old Nikon. My forty year old camera that I have travelled always with. I found it has half a roll still of what certainly is bad film by now.
As I take now close to a hundred shots a week I wonder if i would have the time to develop? Can't I simply have a file digital and be happy? That remains. What about my boxes of CD's, of which there are more than two hundred. I open my iTunes and find I have over four days of music on there alone. None of those CD's are on my drive. Do I need them? I also found a pair of Prada shoes i had forgotten about, sitting in the closet. Would I even wear them now? I think I might, but I'm not sure. So maybe the shoes will go with me.
I went down to the grocery and it was like christmas, imagine if everything that you could eat, or would eat was suddenly half price. I got some toothpaste because that was really half price. Imagine in a single tube saving three dollars! I didn't really feel like shopping so I stopped at that. I was on a beer run for mother's day.
I realized as well, amidst a book from the shelf that I have been running so long I didn't know to stop. Even though I have a mountain of pessimisms I feel a resounding reassurence and stability the likes of which I have never known. In this house of my youth in the bed I have known two decades, since the renovation, I feel good. In reality the plights, or rather the mirth and toil disappear and the spoil, is simply part of it. I was warned about New york getting in my blood. It is there, but knowing that, and feeling that, is the only obstacle. And suddenly I wonder if the confidence and power I now feel is not a protectionary measure.
Let it be known that I am halfway into a book in which the hero is tasting the fruit of eden just minutes before expulsion. I am rivited by comic intrigue despite the plastification of reality. Somehow this intrigue carried to nearly four hundred pages.
I am reading " The Russian Debutantes Handbook" by Gary Shteyngart. He is a good writer, and held me rapt until nearly midway. I am reading a story about "my people." It is set in the disaffected days of '93, first in New York and Miami and now to Pravda. Though "My people" is strictly the age as I am not a russian immigrant.
As I patron of our reaffected dawn, once "disaffected youth" I will say the book is a bit biting. It is a tad misogynous. Not a big fan of the Union or the confederation. Though this could be over evaluating. The book does paint a wonderus picture of eastern europe though, I have to say, I haven't gained anything larger than I would have during a railpass sojourn to Prague, which I assume by chronology was the new Pravda, which seemed to have happened three years before my rout across the pond.
I have, with just cause, been thinking a lot lately about enterprise, as this book thrusts it forward, albeit illegal, I have been thinking about it for some time in fact. Ever since I went to the graduation dinner with one of my best friends in Salem. Her father was a business consultant so dinner consisted largely of a MBA lecture, but it started me thinking. It started a fire that has lasted to this day now three years later. I have her and he to thank, though I am fairly certain she would be appalled. It only takes one idea. And the soil is ripe for planting.
This weekend I thought how wonderful it would be to have a model sailing boat that streamed video back to the controller. One of the limitations of such a vessel is that you are essentially racing a toy boat. I believe that barrier can disappear. I video stream via bluetooth to a mobile handset on the shore would solve this, and thus creating a far better participitory sport. Essentially it could become a far closer approximation to racing real boats at about 1% of the cost. It's a good idea surely, my time will dictate if it is pursued.
What time does is a mystery. What I really should do is be happy I got a weekend to leave the city and not worry about anything else. I think that is what I'll do, as soon as I get back.

Once Bitten.

2006-03-20T07:09:00.000-08:00

Out in the waves you see the swell come, usually a series of two to four peaks just a bit higher than the rest. You turn around, facing the shore and start to paddle. The wave gets closer. As it comes up behind you, you know, am I in? or should I wait? You are lifted high atop the swell. In those closing seconds the decision is made. And you drop in, from a paddle to a coast, your feet plant atop the composite board and the wave takes you. If your balance, position and aim are true you join the system. For the length of that wave, and into the shore you become one with the wave. And then you swim back out to do the drill again.

This week I have been waiting, segments of a vision yet to arrive. What I have now is only RF Transceivers. Which are a challenge in themselves. Today, for example, I felt a weight pressing down. It could have been because it was the last day of spring Break and i had nothing exciting to share. And as I pushed my way through the RF PIC code. I felt sad. It also could have been because i had to go to work. Another thing I was not remotely excite about.

So as I wait for my shipments I have been working on figuring out what it is I plan to do. Really what I am working on now is figuring out what I can do with the RF cards.

Here are a few noted points I received from a past ITP student who is currently working professionally as a AUV researcher:

• Never put anything in the ocean you want back.
• The ocean eats everything that comes from the land. What it can't eat, it covers in biomatter until it is useless.
• Marine mammals are not fond of sonar.
• Environmentalists are not fond of sonar.
• You need sonar to navigate underwater.
• Figure out what ever you think it ought to cost, then start adding exponents. The same is true for time.
• Get used to thinking in meters, KM, and radians. Northings and eastings will become necessary as well.
• There aren't a lot of companies making subsea gear, becasue, it is really hard, and really easy to go bankrupt doing it.

certainly not the best of news. So What I am doing now is wondering how much i can add to the submarines I expect this week. I had no doubt ever that there would be challenges, what I didn't expect was how relatively little headway I would make in the process. The question now is whether I should give up and move on.

Breakin' it Down

2006-03-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

I am uncertain where the time really goes. This week is our Spring Break for school, but despite the lure of Cancun, I will be staying in New York. The mid-seventy degree weather certainly helps. This entire week I have been caring for Sadie.

The schedule has been alright as I just get up a bit earlier and leave a bit earlier. It worked out with my schedule as most of the parts I am waiting on have yet to arrive. This week I will be coordinating my RF Transceivers. I may be switching up the project but time will tell. It is certainly going to be an intense week as I will also be getting into Ultrasound as well. Though I would like to make sure I have the RF running.

I sent out my Proposal this morning to a list of about twenty corporations and people whom I think might be interested in the project:

I am creating a "school" of self- contained autonomous robotic "fish." I use quotations here as, technically the likeness to a "school" would be characterized by it's flocking behavior, and " Fish" would be that it was an aquatic entity.In application they will be much closer to mini-submarines.This decision is based on limitations of time, and a lack of external funding.I have resolved that I would rather create the behavior and functionality, than consume my time with fluid dynamics, ballast tanks and robotics.Through the work of Professor Housheng Hu and his newly released robotic fish (http://www.gumstix.com), as well as the work at MIT in the TowTank,(http://web.mit.edu/towtank/www/) it is certainly a very real possibility to attain life-like simulation.One that I hope to pursue in the future.Additionally I have found that there are currently quite a few projects being developed that utilize collective data processing.However as a start, I must begin small, and simply.

Ideally this "school" would be comprised of virtually an unlimited number of "Fish" utilizing Ultrasonic sensors, a wireless network as well as a self contained energy source for data transmission.The use of multiple Ultrasonic sensors within the same field is a very real, and arguably impossible step, crossover may be impossible to avoid.The next problem is communication.Through my research I have found that the AquaComm acoustic modem could be possibility.However the cost of this device is well outside my budget.Initially I was looking at LWWAA which is in development by Northrop Grumman for the Virginia class of submarines.My own applications do not require so precise an instrument.I have found that it would be much cheaper and smaller, to use a single chip transceiver such as the nRF2401A, for communication.It is very important to note that I am not interested in off-shore deep sea navigation rather an inshore system with depth not exceeding 9m.

Additionally,I envision an interactivity within the school as control could be handed to a user, or a group of users, to illuminate the social dynamic of cooperation and cohabitation. I envision solar receptors that would charge and replenish these "Fish." The PowerMax Ultra 25 made by Shell would be ideal.In further generations I envision the utilization of an imaging device that could provide remote "web-cam" observations.In addition I realize, especially in the open-water iteration, the importance of GPS tracking, as well as the importance of data logging via a satellite linking system.The INTELSAT system, which is part of the Oceanographic Data Link (ODL) is a fine example of this function.

Once implemented additional environmental sensors could be added, such as salinity, IR, and temperature sensors.Due to the extremely small size, navigational capabilities would be greatly improved. The addition of these sensors would allow for the close tracking of individual fish, in a non-threatening way, within their own environment.Which is a research benefit that is not currently available. I also envision the schools ability to, in essence, solidify for protection.This tightened network could also function as a method for proximal data transmission.This school could also serve as undetectable reconnaissance vessels.

Another possibility for this project could entail a processing mother ship and a series of lighter satellite entities.On a larger scale I see the ability to navigate through open water as an innovation in itself.This eventuality is far in the distance but is important as it indicates the scope of this vision.My greatest interest however is long range remote connectivity.If it were possible for a user connected to network in Iowa to navigate through the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in a real-world interactive environment the benefits, beyond education and general wonder would be limitless.

In the realm of Science I see this project as providing a necessary tool for discovery.Ideally it could provide a low impact, highly responsive medium for data collection.As in the real world the "school" would provide protection, as well as enable a number of specialists to encounter and discover collectively, remotely and most importantly simultaneously.One would be hard pressed to find a single researcher in the field who felt connected to the global intellect that this project makes possible.Within the field of aquaculture these devices would become not only a monitoring instrument for environmental change but for the health of the fish within the pen.Here again the benefits of a co-habitating monitoring device are limitless.The trouble with aquaculture is catching the spread of disease before it is too late.In this case a compromised fish, who would indicate infection almost immediately, could be located and identified.This would be especially useful for remote offshore pens.

In nature, and the cause of this schooling behavior, is for survival.This survival could include the search for food, or the protection from predators.What occurs in this environment is a collective consciousness. Each part of the whole is as important as the next for overall survival of the group.This, I believe, if my fundamental interest in this application, as by-in-large I feel that somehow society fails to recognize this vital interconnectivity.

I envision the first generation of "fish" to inhabit a small simple tank.This will be the testing ground.As development progresses capabilities will be added, and the network fine tuned.So that eventually it is possible that this semi-autonomous "school" to be released into a natural environment. At this stage, and for a rather effective use of this technology, this school could be released into larger tanks.The new 8M gallon tank in Atlanta would be a perfect venue, As would be the smaller, though equally grand, tank at the new England Aquarium in Boston.If during the tour visitors will given the ability to actually navigate inside the tank, via a small interactive submarine, the result would be monumental.Even a "fish" within a school that could flash an LED within the large tank at the push of a button would serve a vital role in the inclusion of that participant.Initially my first goal here is to transcend these aquatic barriers.

For the first prototype I am looking into establishing an ultrasonic navigation field using current fish finder technology.Ideally I would like to find a Transducer manufacturer that would be willing to provide me with a few sample devices.I am researching the most effective transducer for this application.I have found a body that I believe is large enough to house the necessary components, which is currently on order.I will be working first in a tank to troubleshoot the specifics of ultrasonic navigation.What I am looking for is an omnidirectional multi-channel underwater transducer.I have contacted ITI in California and they helped me establish which of their products best suit my needs.However my budget at the moment is quite small, so I have had to make amendments to the design.The difficulty will be tuning an array of omnidirectional sensors while multiple servo motors propel the craft, and multiple transceivers operate simultaneously.

Through discussions with my colleges we believe it is possible to program the flocking behaviors in software once this occurs.An additional method to achieve this that we are currently researching is navigation based upon a central "brain" that determines satellite placement within a three dimensional grid system.This method, we realize is a less resilient application as the school would simply be in formation and thusly the individual functionality and autonomy would be lost.

Since I can remember, have had a very close, perhaps spiritual connection with the sea.As an undergraduate student at the University of Maine, most of my courses revolved around Marine Biology and Aquaculture, which was my first major.Since, I have retained an adamant love, and an active role is preserving, maintaining and cherishing our global resources.A passion made more poignant as water comprises more than 80% of our small planet.I feel that there is arguably nothing more beautiful than the combined intelligence found in a school of fish, or a flock of birds.The collaborative concordant mystery is both engaging and contemplative, it is a compelling window into a world where both symmetry and chaos rule.A flock of sheep grazing in a field, how is the leader chosen?Pigeons in a park, who decides suddenly it is time to take flight? It is as though life itself has a design, and that design is an example of a unified interactive interconnectivity through which all living things can and do subscribe.I am interested in pursuing the possibilities of collaborative underwater navigation, research and discovery.I have chosen water as a medium because the barrier, especially for electronics, is one that is universally known and understood.The dynamics of aquatic implementation enable a personal connection for all viewers on a molecular scale.As a researcher I feel that the sub-aquatic boundary is indeed our final frontier.

I am contacting you for advice, insight and perhaps collaboration.This is a very complex process, and one that requires more than what I have immediately available.At the end of my graduate studies I would like to achieve implementation, and I do not believe I can do it with the help, of people such as yourself.I have been referred to you, through my advisors, my research, and through my belief that this project may be of interest to your own professional research and development.

At this point I am additionally also looking for interested parties who would be interested in helping to fund this project.The largest hurdles for this process are the financial constraints posed by underwater circuitry.It is due to this that I will be pursuing technology that previously has not been used for this application, or is as inexpensive as possible.I am asking for your assistance, any help that you can provide, or referrals, will not only be greatly appreciated but will be dually noted in all credits and publications.If the proper sources can be aligned from the start then inevitably the final product will not only be successful but readily marketable, which is a concern, as the sacrifice of precision will too sacrifice functionality. A reality I hope to avoid. My final request is that I am looking for an internship this summer that will augment my education in this field.

This Highlights my ambitions for the project. I don't know exactly where it's going or how I got into it, but I am now and I soon won't be able to back out. Not that I want to, though let a few weeks of trials pass and we will see what happens.

On a much lighter note, on the same street that I saw Satan's Land Rover I saw an old classic that had Maine plates no less, and I was reaffirmed. I can't imagine what the five hours north in that truck must be like, and I hope that I get to meet the owners one day. I also witnessed this week what could be the largest private fish tank I have ever seen. It is close to one thousand gallons if not more, and the fish in it, dozens of them, are at least plate sized, large plates. It is amazing. I stand on the corner often gazing at the fish slowly swimming and I have found that I am enthralled. It could be the speed. The fish move about at one third the speed I feel I do, perhaps that is the calling. Perhaps it is that they seem so peaceful in their tank. Regardless it makes me want to to be in there with them. Maybe that is why I am doing this? I just want the world to slow down a bit.

Here in New York it probably would be a good thing. I actually had multiple conversations just today about this simple fact. About how frustrating it was to be walking on the sidewalk and have tourists in front of you. The meander along looking up at the sky and taking pictures all the while you have places to be and people to meet. New Yorkers come across as being rude and that is because we have to move twice as fast just to stay alive, three or four times as fast and we might be marketable, ten times as fast and you might have something, or at least a living. I have noticed my impatience as well. I have reduced my personal space to such an extent that I occasionally bump into people, and usually zip past them. Everyone seems to be in a rush because we are! Can't you see that?

Paradise Lost

2006-03-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

So I have had a falling out this week with my time abider. Certainly my choice of words reflects. I have been spending time, of late, as if it were free. Today finds me outside, and I feel relieved. And I will say the added time has proved wondrous. I feel as though in the past twelve hours I have gotten more done than the past week. So at this I say good change has occurred.

In this notion of change I am reminded of the Richard Meier buildings on the lower west side. I was over there walking Sadie, and aged Pit bull of a good friend of mine. What is interesting in these buildings, which happen to be nearly the only examples of modern architecture in lower Manhattan, is that they are almost all completely empty. I have talked with a few people in the neighborhood and apparently there are major problems in these buildings. Apparently the electrical contractor dropped the ball and the majority of these building's residents are involved in a class action suit. I find it a shame that these near perfect examples of modernity have been so plagued. In this case I can only assume, as the renovation contracts dwindle that these buildings will be out dated before residents are happy.

I would like to think that Meier here has tapped into timelessness with these structures. These shining towers of glass catch the eye of every visitor to the lower west side riverside parkway. I would like to think that these investors paid for something more than the moment. Apparently more than a few of these apartments have sold to people of mention, however no one lives there. In each of the three buildings there were maybe four apartments that appeared lived in. I realize that this was from the street, and I have no idea, but the pictures amply show that there is more here than a few one bedrooms.

So walking to Dinner in the west village I saw James Gandophini in a window. I can say that it was a moment to see the most famous mob boss alive sitting in a window of an Italian restaurant. My observation was that he is no less small than he appears weekly on HBO, and in fact he dwarfed the people surrounding him.

For dinner I went over to the Tavern on Jane and had a burger. It was a discovery in that I found Harpoon on tap. Since the bar across the street dropped it I have missed it. However I will say that a walk of ten blocks makes for a hard pull, even if is Harpoon.

Reflections of an Id

2006-02-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

As the season moves closer to spring the weather changes as well. I have found my change in this time as well. I am so amazingly busy with school that I have little time to post, in fact it took me almost a month to post my pictures from the snowstorm. But they are now up on my site. In school I am attempting to stay above water, there is so very much work to do, the hardest part about this is that it is so very time intensive. I could complain all I wanted last semester but it was never really like this, there really is no way for me to not spend all of the next four weeks at school. I am amazed actually how very much we are doing. In truth I love it all and I wish I could wax the truly amazing ground I am covering. All the while working on my Thesis project for next year. In that regard I am finding that I will probably be going solo on the adventure, which means that I will be the sole creator, which in itself is quite exciting. I have felt very much like a fractal image of late; as my life seems to have a prismatic quality as from a single light I reach far corners at light speed only to return back to the start in a flash.

My Network Object class is coming along; we had a trial by fire assignment due this week in which I got a bit burned. The assignment was to create a game. Over the Network, so we had two devices that spoke over the web to a graphic interface in Processing. Each Networked element had a button and the more you pushed said button the greater the change was in the interface. It involved three programming languages and countless hours of trouble-shooting. I was in charge of the graphics and I was of little help. Though since I had been laboring over it I did know the code pretty well, however one of the people in my group achieved rather quickly what I spent all day on. We are now planning for our midterm. I have an idea that would convert text to speech and remotely broadcast the file through a MIDI toy I have. Tomorrow I will be looking into what has to happen and when, and most importantly if I can do it in three weeks.

In my science visualization class I created a reef, which I will upload soon to my site. It’s just a quick movie but it shows a bit of what I’ve been doing. In this class we are still developing a core knowledge of the programs, VIRTools and Maya.

I have a few make-up classes tomorrow, and Saturday. Sunday I’ll be working in 3D. Before I go to A&F for a bit. It’s been amazing that I still have a job there as I have worked all of six hours this year. I went over the Ruehl today because I heard they were having a sale on their T-shirts, which they have great ones, and since it was about 80% off I got a few, ok, four. They are good shirts. Good enough that I even told a few people in the neighborhood to go over and get some, and they did, you can’t really find too many $10 shirts these days. Especially from a “Luxury” brand.

I have been writing a bit, which is good. I think because of school I have the crazy sci-fi plot lines, and scenarios. Which is cool I guess. The narrative is changing I know. I was invited by the Wetherman to do a guest spot of Pod casting. I’ll let you know when it’s up. I actually want to go into the sound booth before I submit it.

I miss the innocence I’ve known. (Wilco)

I feel as though I should give an explanation on the title of this blog. I should first mention that on Blogger alone, five or so blogs are posted every second, so I don’t expect anyone to be reading this that I don’t know. If, for some reason, you have landed here, I would absolutely love to hear why.

Anyway, the Mirth is the city. Mirth is defined as happiness, enjoyment and especially that that is accompanied by laughter. For without laughter I truly believe all is lost. The Toil is part of the maintaining the Mirth, but the toil is also what it takes to live here in in New York. I have avoided the “Here . . . anywhere” cliché but I have to say it’s true, because at the pace we all live our lives, one does what they have to, no matter. That I had learned long ago, but the city makes it true. Am I something else here? Am I something worth noting as you pass on the street? I am. I have been woven into the very fabric of a culture that the rest of the world endows as quintessential. Do I fit into the mold? Of course not! But that is New York, and that is why I am here. . . .

And So comes the Spoil. This one is probably the most fitting. I have found the immediate proximity of anything I could ever want a bit of a challenge. Granted I haven’t a spare dime, the option itself has served it’s purpose. Even if I had unlimited funds I don’t know as my life would change beyond maybe a home theatre and NetFlix. My scenario would change do to this but really, be in large, nothing would change. I have for so long been in the city that my priorities have adjusted. This, I believe, is due to the city.

Being especially in the West Village I see people whose homes have increased in value 1000% that in itself is amazing, but really it is what makes the Village the coolest hood in the boroughs. Life goes on, the world changes, live it.

Over the weekend I entertained the notion of having a car, what I found was that nothing had changed. I found I was still into the XKS as well as a tight little Porsche Spyder. But really wanted was a D90, that was until I saw () this that affectively ended both the daydream and my need for a car.

In Atlanta I was proud of the fact that I spent six months in the Highlands before leaving. In Dallas I did the same, though the time was shorter, I never left, again ironically, Highland Park. I have always loved proximity. If I can walk there it’s good. Here in the city a good walk is Central Park. But I often don’t make it uptown often.

Unless you count tonight, I’m going to the Whiskey Park @CPS . . . .

Favorite Blog List

2006-02-22T12:49:00.000-08:00

http://rrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnhhhh.blogspot.com/

No Time

2006-02-22T12:22:00.000-08:00

So as the semester moves forward at, close to the speed of light I have a notion of anxiety that has been creeping steadily of late. I am running out of money, spending too much. . . . even if I spend nothing, I feel like I am. I am near constantly busy, and in about two months I will have to have well paying job to keep me alive through summer. Unfortunately the most common advice is for me to be a male escort, which is appreciated indeed. I have a pretty strong phobia developing here and it's the passage of time, add this to the fact that I have been laboring with a programming file I can't get to work for the past forty-eight hours and there you have it. Almost, along with this fear of spending money comes the fact that I'm not eating. I usually go, now, for one meal a day and drink coffee, and water of course, during the rest of the day. If I can make an entire day on less than $10 I call it a success. Eating at home often is my option and that works out until I completely freak out for eating nothing but plain pasta for an entire week, I ran out of sauce last month. But I still have pasta. . . . And I want to finish it before I go shopping again. I'm not sure how this will work out.

Other news? There isn't any, I work all the time. Oh, it might rain.

Pillow Riot

2006-02-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

Today in Union Square a few hundred people convened for a pillow fight at 2:00 pm. It was awesome.

This weekend I am the care-taker of Sadie, an 11 year old Pit Bull. She could be the sweetest dog ever.
Seriously, . . . . EVER. Well I have met some great ones. Pearl was a quite special. But suddenly, as I write this, I am going through all the wonderful dogs I have known, as actually I have only met a few that I actually didn't like. So this weekend I am with the sweetest dog this weekend. . . . .

2006-02-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

How the time flies. . . . I have a mountain of work to do. Today I creating a program in Java that will respond remotely via ethernet to soundwaves. I also, of course moved here, which I feel is a much better place to be. Just FYI

BOOKMARK THIS PAGE

As the link from my site will be removed 3/1/06

This morning I found that The Grey Dog is probably the coolest place to hang out ever.
. . . . Free Coffee Refills! and after a few, maybe three, of those I have lasted all day after two hours of sleep.

This is the Back-Blog

2006-02-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

February 4, 2006

Today I found myself in the grasp of McLuhan. Through his writings I studied the anthropologic evolution of square houses. I learned that zero was not a concept until the Rennassiance, and I also learned that reading hours and hours of theory makes for a rather obtuse vantage. The day was rainy albeit warm. I spent the morning and most of the afternoon at school then went over to the corner Bistro, reccomended highly by Wick, for a burger, that was indeed amazing. In other news I have made good headway in my research of AUVs. Finding that it will not only be exceedingly difficult, but excessively expensive to create semi-autonomous networked robotic fish. However as time passes and my knowlege of the subject increases I grow more and more interested in pairing down the project to it's simplest level. In truth the project need not have navigational properties, or even remote control as a series of objects that navigate seemingly by their own accord is certainly as interesting and engaging as real fish. My one reoccuring hurdle in this is that this specialization, and this project is not a ready-made sale. Within my program there is an intense pressure to create equitable projects. This is both a rational take on the rather high expense of our education, and a real world accessibility we have available. Regardless of where this road takes me, this decision is a pressing one.

In other news, this week I will be applying for a summer internship at Apple computer in California. If selected I will be interviewing next week. As per a discussion with my advisor the other day I have also started a near constant survey of funding opportunities. Especially if I go forward with my AUV project the need for external sponsorship if vital. There is also a growing pressure for me to not default on my rather excessive rent during the summer months. I am certainly connected to one of the strongest economies in the world, however until I have that locked in I will worry.

February 1, 2006

This development is exponential. In the jungle walking a path I suddenly see, what to that point I had not. I see for the first time what has always been and find myself surprised. School has taken on an intensity I had forgotten. I am prepared this time, however, so I paddle in for the break. It is this set I have always prepared for.

I recieved an email from Northrop-Grumann stating that the Department of Defense has classified the sensor I was interested in.