Personal Archives
Some may remember the photos I took at my friends Brent & Annette's wedding cake. They are among my most popular photos with this one having 82 views yesterday, 528 views this week, and 156,585 views in total. 564 people call it a favorite! The cake has appeared in several magazines and online stories and now the makers of the cake, Gateaux, Inc. will be appearing on the Food Network Challenge this Sunday at 7pm. They are competing with 4 other cake makers to make the best Dr. Seuss themed cake. Nerds, set your TiVos!
If I were to make a parody website this would be it: The washlet site. Only this isn't a parody and that makes it all the better. I happen to be shopping for a toilet and this dual flush model from TOTO is looking to be the ticket as it will save a lot of water over the course of the years by using less water for when you don't really need the full flush. But then I came across the upgrade option, a heated seat that uses water to wash you and then dries you afterward. A quick stop at the site, and I was immediately taken, ahem, aback. Checkout what all the actors have to say. I especially like the testimonials read by the "happiness girl" - I mean aside from the introductions, LOL! The funniest joke of it all, however, is that I kinda want one, especially the s400 that "senses your presence", opening and closing the seat, and flushing for you.
Not that anyone was really asking, but I want to tell the few of you who aren't search engines and spiders, what I have been up to recently (and hey if the spiders are amused, all the better). It has been a very busy year so far for me and I have realized that too many of the posts on Alt Text recently, have been links to other sites, posts, and videos and a lot less of me. I'm not contending that people think I am all that interesting, but a side-effect of not talking about myself is that I have not been talking about things I am doing and things I care about, and this is perhaps effecting how much passion I have had for blogging. How can I ask you, the reader, to care about what I am writing here, if I have been less than passionate? The answer is, I can't. So I am hoping to start some more off-the-cuff style posts - perhaps putting less research into some topics, but also adding more of my own personality.
So what have I been up to? As I was saying it has been a very busy, but also a very fulfilling and, in many ways, extraordinary year so far. The first thing to note is that I co-founded a company with my friends, Scott and Jesse. My work as part of Refactr has been rewarding and fun. We have developed a product that we plan on releasing soon and we are working with a medical startup company to help them develop their flagship product. In addition to working in a very agile way we are leading the way in the Groovy/Grails development community by building a large application using this new language/framework.
To help foster community here at home in Minnesota, we have started the Groovy(and Grails) Users of Minnesota. Meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of each month. In late April, minnebar, the (un)conference I help to put on was a huge success with over 330 people spending a Saturday indoors geeking out. By all accounts, it was the second largest barcamp event in the world and the largest outside of India.
In addition to work and community related stuff, I have been playing volleyball and kickball this winter and spring. Jena and I threw a Cinco de Mayo party with her sister and husband that was quite fun and then my loving wife gt me a Wii for my birthday so I have been busy playing Wii sports like golf, tennis and bowling, as well as trying my luck with Super Paper Mario, Zelda, and Call of Duty 3.
By our count nearly 350 geeks and "geeks at heart" converged on the Railroader building in downtown Saint Paul this past Saturday and I think most everyone has been very positive about the result. I believe that number (or any number over 300) would make minnēbar the largest barcamp outside of India (Barcamp Bangalore 3 - just a couple weeks ago - drew over 500 people!). I know that barcamps are supposed to be about local community and ours was no exception, but it was still nice (and a little amazing) that we had quite a few people drive or fly in from New York (at least 2), South Dakota (at least 2), Wisconsin (6 or more), and Chicago (at least 1). Knowing that this event is worth someone's Saturday is one things, but also worth a six hour drive, or several hundred dollar plane ticket? That is awesome.
I am very happy with the way the event turned out. I think the sessions, by and large, were first-rate. The special guests such as William Gurstelle and his excitement for making things that go Whoosh, Boom, Splat as well as the Scout Robots from the University of Minnesota gave a nice real-life tech component to the day. Of course David Heinemeier Hansson was a highlight as he was his usual witty and charming self. I have had lunch with him before (at Etech last year) and have seen him present, but he seemed even better in this setting. All his answers came very freely and he didn't really seem to struggle with any of the questions. I am sure he had been asked about such things time and time again. Even so, I thought Jamie Thingelstad did a very good job with his side of the interview, as well.
I was very worried that the size of the crowds would really take away from the intimacy and sense of participation that is crucial to barcamps, but I don't think these fears turned out to be warranted. Plenty of people talked between sessions or headed off to an "ad hoc session room" to discuss this or that and the sessions (with a few exceptions) never got too full. I still believe that the 50 minute session length is good. It is not so much that it can get too detailed so people really have to know their stuff. I spoke with Shourya Sarcar, one of the planners of barcamp Bangalore, and he said that one of the differences between the Minnesota and Bangalore barcamps was that their sessions are 30 minutes and that they "vote with their feet" meaning they leave a session if it is no good, or not what they had hoped. Minnesota "nice" retards that practice a bit, but there was still some wandering between sessions.
Continue reading "minnēbar remembered"
Last night I watched the last episode of the TV series, The OC and afterward, felt is was time for a more personal diary-like post here on Alt Text; a post where I get to provide a bit of a window into my soul, however embarrassing that may be. It has been a while and that isn't good.
Yesterday, I was quite surprised to hear that the series was ending. Not only that, but the series finale was on that night. Now, I haven't watched The OC in a while - at least two or three seasons - but I will admit that it made its way into, an albeit guilty, region of my heart. Yes, despite being the type of cheesy, teen drama that I so often ridiculed I couldn't stop myself from caring about these (mostly) rich Orange County residents, many with very few redeeming qualities. I could try to play it cool now and say that I like the show for the hot girls and great soundtrack* , but the truth is, it was more than that. Mind you not much more, but in almost every episode I saw, there were moments of honesty and emotion that seemed so very contradictory to the backdrop and to the personalities of the characters.
Like so much of seasons' past, however, the finale had many gag worthy moments, actually many more than the average episode. This is due in part because the show, more even than it usually did, mocks itself mercilessly. The writers and creators of The OC know what it is. They know they aren't creating art. That is part of the reason they ended the show after 5 seasons (undoubtedly another part is ratings drops though I haven't checked into that). They understand that the show is cheesy and, for most viewers over 18 (a vast majority) a guilty pleasure.
In this, the final episode, the ridiculous builds upon the plain stupid toward the crescendo ending that isn't. Part of the plot supposed the viewer feel sorry for this wealthy family because their mansion on the ocean is deemed unsalvageable after an earthquake. They even cut to each family member's face as this news is delivered, creating the ultimate in cheese. Other plot points, try to draw out drama from whether a serial adultery and marry-er decides to marry her second 60 year old, husband, or the guy who player Hercules in that UPN show of the same name. Clichés and inside jokes fly out of the character's mouths for about 40 more minutes until they they settle into a series of flash-forwards to see what becomes of our heroes and heroines. All of this is quite predictable and rather boring until, in classic OC style (if not somewhat predictable as well), in the last scene the troubled kid from the wrong side of the tracks (who is now all growed up) is leaving his job site and sees a kid who was just like himself when The OC began. He knows where he is and he asks him if he needs help. This moment, too, is high on sappiness, but, with the music in the background and the history I have with this show, I can't help but feel good about it and even though I gave up watching years ago, I couldn't help but mourn a little for the loss of The OC. Just knowing it was there has been a comfort to me I guess. Ugh.
* For a while, the show provided me with a lot of exposure to new music including introducing me to some of my current favorites: Imogen Heap, Rouge Wave, Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Pond PA, Keane, Super Furry Animals, and many more, and was honestly one of the primary reasons the show resonated with me as it did. They did a great job finding songs that really matched and enhanced the emotions of the scenes with which they were coupled.
There are many sites showcasing the music of The OC, like this official site, an unofficial site that breaks the songs down by episode, and also a comprehensive Wikipedia entry of the songs featured on the OC.
In a recent post over at the Web Worker Daily, Anne Zelenka asked the question: How do you decide what to do from your to do list? The focus was on a couple hosted software apps that help people follow the Getting Things Done process laid out by David Allen.
I haven't really evaluated either Vitalist or Nozbe, though Vitalist appeals more to my design sensibilities. There are several others that look to be worth trying out, too. What I have been doing for some months now is using a Firefox extension to Gmail called GTDGmail. I hadn't really heard of the GTD process before stumbling upon this extension and deciding to try it out. Basically GTD is based on the idea that you have to free your mind from keeping track of tasks by getting those tasks out and into something else, often times paper lists. It goes further into saying that you really should only decide that you are going to work and then let your pre-coded tasks determine what you work on. There is more info to be found on GTD at Wikipedia including the following brief intro:
When you process your inbox, follow a strict workflow:
- Start at the top.
- Deal with one item at a time.
- Never put anything back into 'in'.
- If an item requires action:
- do it (if it takes less than two minutes),
- delegate it, or
- defer it.
- If not,
- file it for reference,
- throw it away, or
- incubate it for possible action later.
GTDGmail has an explanation I like even better:
GTD has two main aims:
- To get all the fiddly little things you have to remember out of your head, and into something more robust.
- To give you a view of your tasks that will always answer the question "What should I do now?"
It is designed for lazy people. It is simple and effective enough that anyone can do it, and keep doing it.
In addition, they state that any task that can be done in 2 minutes or less, should just be done right away. (Thus reducing the stress of task overload).
I am not using the full GTD system. I have modified it a bit to suit my needs. The GTD system has Contexts, Statuses, and Projects and while I like the idea of Contexts (where I do things e.g. at a computer, or on the phone) I find that I am mostly using this for tasks that I would do at a computer or that context did not really matter much to me. I usually just click on a status such as "Waiting On" and a project title such as "Refactr Website" and call it good.
I am just now starting to buy into the system and use it daily. There are a ton of customization options and, in one of the neatest aspects of the software, some of these options are configured based on one of three archetype users you tell it you are:
The Empty Inbox
Style: As soon as an item comes in, it is labeled and Archived. The Inbox should always be empty.
The Archive Graveyard
Style: Keep all current items in the Inbox, and put all finished ones in the Archive.
I Love My Inbox!
Style: All items stay in the Inbox. Archive? What Archive?!
I strive to be the middle group but am afraid, all too often, I fall into the last group. All in all, I guess I would say I recommend anyone who feels a bit overwhelmed with tasks to give GTD a try, and specifically the GTD Firefox extension. It can't really be worse than putting messages in all those folders can it?
iPod, phone, camera, computer running OSX, bluetooth, wifi, and no buttons*. I am glad my Cingular contract is up in May, just in time to pony up for this amazing phone.
UPDATE: Now play around with it on the Official Apple Site.
* A fact that I am sure will get a whole cadre of usability professionals crying foul, but you know what, its all about sexiness and by and large buttons are not sexy.
I cannot believe how easy the transition has been for me in my switch from Windows-based computing to my new Mac. I admit I was apprehensive and had a lot of worries that I wouldn't be up to speed as fast as I needed to be, but those fears appear to be unfounded. Sure there are a couple keyboard commands I am retraining my fingers on and there are a few Firefox extensions that don't work well, but all in all I have been pleasantly surprised by the ease of the switch.
I am sure it will take a couple months to erase some of the muscle memory of hitting ctrl + c and v in favor of command + c and v and I there are no doubt countless little things I will find in Photoshop that could slow me down (like the save for web keyboard commands, that is an awkward hand contortion). I picked up the new wireless, Bluetooth Mighty Mouse too and have adopted a wait and see approach there. It is a great mouse in many ways but it seems a bit small for my hands and I can't quite get it configured how I want (though the SteerMouse software I downloaded is helping by allowing me to set additional preferences and per application defaults). The Tabbrowser Preferences extension (does anybody else hate the change to the word "Add-ons"? I wonder if it has legal reasons) is something I cannot really live without and a couple others would sure be nice to have on the Mac side of things.
But let's talk a bit about what I am impressed with. First off, and it really does strike you before anything else, is just how physically well-made these laptops are. There was a tremendous amount of thought put into the closing mechanism, the placement of ports, and the power supply. The keyboard has a great tactile feel and the back lighting and lighted indicators for num and caps lock are great..
Inside, the operating system is intuitive and clean. It responds quickly (even with only 1 GB of RAM. There were a couple things I altered right off the bat to make it feel better to me (adjusted the font smoothing down to 6 from 8; turned on full keyboard access for all web form controls (like check boxes), and adjusted the settings for Dashboard, Expose, and the Dock.
Third party software (while I lament the dearth of free options, has impressed with the overall level of quaility in the interface department. Almost all of the applications I have downloaded (TextMate, Transmit, and Parallells), very nice and tied closely to the look of the OS.
There are still some things I would like to figure out, like how to efficiently use Dashboard and iPhoto, or how to get my Google Calendar to load into iCal like it is supposed to, but all in all I already feel very comfortable with my new Mac and am dreading going back to work in the morning and booting up my Dell.
I am writing this from a city made famous by the Eagles, Winslow, Arizona ("I'm standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine site to see. It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me."). Jena and I (and the dogs) are traveling across the country to Phoenix, AZ. My mother and sister live down there and my other sister and nieces are coming down as well. It will be the first time we have all spent a holiday with each other in many years. Jena and I are driving and decided to, more or less, follow the old Route 66 highway through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. In some places the road no longer exists or is in severe disrepair. Interstate 40 runs most of the way along its trail as well and we often jump over to that road. For the most part, the trip down Route 66 is trip down the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, as so many business that relied on the traffic of Route 66 can no longer continue operations now that 40 has diverted so many travelers. I have posted some photos of the trip so far. Enjoy
It happened again. Just like last time a thirsty hoard of ghouls, goblins, and (scarier) celebrity impersonators descended upon our house in suburban Minnesota to feast and drink on ... well food and beer, mostly.
It was a great time, this past Friday night, with a bonfire and fire "juggling" and even bobbing for apples of all things. I am a bit disappointed that we only had 1 person crash at our place, though. That represents a 300% decrease over last year.
But mine was not the only house to be haunted that night. Take a look at some great photos on flickr tagged with "Halloween Party" I like the shots from the Industrial Light and Magic party (and while some of these are great costumes why did I still expect more). Some favorites: A giant digital camera that actually worked, Katamari Damacy, Borat, and the whole Monty Python crew of knights (complete with giant Trojan rabbit).
Marie Antoinette was looking good too. Just look at that detail in the wig!
I am now officially planning my next vacation for late August 2008, preferably outside the U.S. I guess it is either that or get arrested for the first time. Hmmm, both sound tempting.
Congratulations are in order for a new patch of parents that just sprang up. Casey & Erin (photos), Mark & Tamara (photos), and Jesse & Melissa (photos) are all new parents with in the past couple weeks. All the best to you guys!
Barkley is his name and he will likely be the last new family member for a long while. We aren't quite sure what he is made of - Airedale Terrier, Collie, Burmese Mountain Dog? But he has a great disposition, is a very playful at 4-5 months old, and is cute as can be (sometimes I hear myself say these things and cringe). Check him out in this "exclusive" Flickr photoset.
Today I received the 100,000th spam email in the past 30 days. I feel very honored that so many people consider me a great candidate for refinancing my mortgage or investing in the hot new stock. So many busty blonds want to meet me but I feel that they would be surprised to find that so many others seem to think I can't get it up and that I may need C14L5 or \/14gr4. If you have sent me a message to which I didn’t respond, please take heart in knowing that I most likely did not see it – you should send it again – unless it's you, Bedwyr Miguez or even you, Thorbjo Desrosier, I got your messages.
At the minnēbar conference in May I presented a session titled Agile Design (slides) and a great discussion ensued. The talk centered around the concepts and ideas of the Agile Method, but, you guessed it, as it related to information and visual design. I have had a great opportunity in my current role to help to define and evolve our process and practices surrounding software design and development. I love the team I work with and hope to continue breaking new ground with them.
I also wanted to post a bit about some ongoing and upcoming projects I am involved in so you know what I have been up to and what to expect.
First, I am planning to launch a new site with some peers of mine that will be focused on the agile method and particularly how it pertains to the development of "web 2.0" apps. You might think of it as a Signal vs. Noise type blog with less of a marketing spin.
I am also helping to plan OpenBar for the fall of 2006. OpenBar will pick up where minnēbar left off but its entire focus will be on open source software, using open source in your business, and is aimed at developing, enriching, and bringing together Minnesota's large but disjointed open source community.
I also have a Minnesota blog aggregation site brewing slowly, but my decision to write in Ruby and on the Rails framework (as my first foray into such technologies) is retarding my progress. Hopefully, I will post more on this soon.
Lastly, this site is on the verge of another facelift. I really like the new visual design a lot, but am more excited by some of the ways the new site will be organized as well as some of the additional features and content I will be adding. Not sure when this will happen, but I am hoping for a June launch.
I returned yesterday from a long weekend along Lake Superior's south shore at Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island (one of the Apostle Islands) in Wisconsin. There were six of us plus four dogs so there was lots to keep us busy. We had fun, made some (camp) gourmet meals and got a bit too rowdy on Saturday night - I paid for that all day Sunday. Here are some photos of the trip.
This past Saturday I was fortunate enough to have many of my friends and neighbors over for a belated Cinco de Mayo party that also happened to coincide with my birthday. We had some piñatas, authentic tacos al Pastor, volleyball, a bonfire, and even some fire juggling (as you can see from the photo). It was a great time and a good way to celebrate another year gone. Hopefully, this will be an annual occurrence if people are up for it. Here are some more photos of the event.
From time to time, because I have professed to be planning not to have children, articles are forwarded to me on the subject. Then if I read them, post about them, or try to discuss them, I often get accused of attempting to justify my decision. I have written many times before about the subject and I always get mixed comments on such posts.
While support, and good-hearted discussion, is nice I, too often, come away from such exchanges truly feeling like I do have to justify my decision to people, or to be more dramatic, society at large. It (not-procreating) isn't what organisms are supposed to do (our design makes that embarrassingly obvious) but we do a lot of things we likely aren't supposed to do. But we have workarounds (or loopholes) for that now. We don't have to blindly reproduce because that is "what we are supposed to do".
An American Sociologist Association study from late last year reports findings that I have suspected (and seen proof of in the lives of friends and family) for some time: parents are not happier than adults without children. Here is the full study report (PDF). This information does little for me, but may provide, some bit of comfort for others considering the same path.
I am seriously considering getting a Flowbee vacuum haircutting system to use on my dog. We have always (or more accurately rarely) cut our dog's hair and it is always a pain because she freaks out with an electric clippers so we have to get by with just a scissors. I know she will freak out a bit with the vacuum sound too, but she is getting old and can't freak out nearly as powerfully now. I expect only a minor to medium amount of scratches across my arms and chest.
Any mention of Flowbee requires a link to this page, that I still think about whenever I hear mention of the product - which is, not surprisingly more and more infrequently.
Just finished up a two day conference in San Diego on Strategic E-HR - yeah that's what I said. It was better than it sounded. Really. I am going to stick around for next week's Emerging Technologies conference from O'Reilly and so I have some time to kill in between. What better way to spend some time than taking photos around town. Check them out at Flickr.
If I am a liitle late to the party on this you can blame a lot of people but you can only blame Mark for me actually participating.
Four jobs I've had
- Stocked shelves and helped people feed their consumerism at the very first Target Greatland store
- Called cabs for drunkards at the long defunct Mississippi Live group of bars and clubs
- Decided the fates of small, short-term student loan applicants
- Part of a team of people, who if together today could be doing really great things, that helped two less brilliant people make fistfuls of cash
Four movies I can watch over and over
- Any movie containing at least 15% hobbits
- Blazing Saddles
- Army of Darkness
- Rushmore
Four places I've lived
- A room in a house shared with a crazy, roid-rager who would throw his furniture around in the room next-door.
- A small room atop a run-down fraternity house in Minneapolis
- A large concrete co-op (where I served as president) in Dinkytown (Minneapolis)
- Mexico for 4 months, 3 weeks (cumulative)
- A town home in New Brighton (Minnesota) where I spent the first nights married to my beautiful wife and playing with my crazy puppy. (those were separate occasions)
Four TV shows I love
- Arrested Development
- Lost
- The West Wing
- The Daily Show / The Colbert Report (not cheating as one is basically an extension of the other)
Four places I've vacationed
- Europe (Paris, Amsterdam, Bruges)
- Wisconsin Dells
- The Dominican Republic (where I proposed to Jena)
- Hawaii
Four of my favorite dishes (soooo many things!)
- Dark chocolate truffles and milk
- Lobster scampi
- Sushi (though not sashimi)
- Authentic Mexican tacos (al pastor)
Four sites I visit daily (I am assuming mail.google.com doesn’t count)
- Bitterpill.org (I enjoy disappointment)
- Flickr.com
- RobotWisdom.com
- AltText.com (I am kinda of a narcissist)
Four places I would rather be right now
- On vacation (New Zealand, Africa, China, Cuba top the list)
- In bed
- Playing basketball, volleyball, kickball, tennis or nearly any team sport
- Anywhere with my best friend and wife (having that be the same person really saves on expenses)
Four bloggers I am tagging
- Cam
- Casey
- Dack
- James
I recently purchased a Nikon D50 digital SLR camera but haven't even had the time to go out and really use it. I have posted a couple dozen photos taken with the camera. All of them are pretty much on the auto settings and none are very good, but I think they show some of the potential of this camera.
I considered getting the D70s and drooled over the D200 but in the end I realized that the D50 (nearly identical to the D70s - and in many ways better*) is still too much camera for the like of me and I still have much to learn before an upgrade is warranted.
This post about my new Nikon camera comes amid speculation that Nikon may discontinue its analog camera production. There is still some confusion over Nikon's plans with seperate reports coming out in favor of and denying the rumors. But Nikon's site seems pretty clear about the issue:
As a result of the new strategy Nikon will discontinue production of all lenses for large format cameras and enlarging lenses with sales of these products ceasing as soon as they run out of stock. This also applies to most of our film camera bodies, interchangeable manual focus lenses and related accessories. Although Nikon anticipates that the products will still be in retail distribution up to Summer 2006.
* the things I like about the D50 over the D70 are: the size and weight of it. Is a tiny bit smaller and I think it feels better, it uses Secure Digital cards rather than compact flash this saves me money and is faster, there are a couple other things, but I will save them for a more complete review in a couple weeks.
I have finally overtaken an obituary listing in Google searches for Ben Edwards. There ain't no stopping me now.
Following Jason's and Hanna's examples, here is the list of cities I visited in 2005
Minneapolis, MN*
Saint Paul, MN*
Duluth, MN
Austin, TX
Custer, SD
Mitchell, SD
San Diego, CA
Madison, WI
Chicago, IL*
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
San Jose del Cabo, Mexico
Cabo Pulmo, Mexico
Boulder, Colorado
Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
Throw in more than a few weeks spent in campgrounds and it was a pretty eventful year (really half year as all but 2 of those cities were visitied in the second half of the year), though certainly not as crazy as some globetrotter's lists.
I am back from a week in Los Cabos, Mexico, in which I did virtually nothing but play in the water and eat good food. This vacation was a bit more relaxing than most of the trips my wife and I take. We often fall into the trap of trying to do too many things each day. It was exactly what we needed. Just about the only disappointment was that we didn't get out to snorkel on the reef at Cabo Pulmo (the only living reef on the west coast of the Americas) as it was too windy.
Here are some photos.
Here was my basic itinerary:
Day 1 - Get into Cabo San Lucas (late) - Go out to eat/drink
Day 2 - Hit the beaches in Cabo San Lucas
Day 3 - Travel to San Jose del Cabo; explore, eat/drink
Day 4 - Take glass-bottomed boat to Playa Amor; eat/drink
Day 5 - Rent car, drive along dirt road (2.5 hrs) to Cabo Pulmo (pop. 111)
Day 6 - Snorkel near reef; drive to San Jose del Cabo
Day 7 - All day on beach behind hotel; at nite, eat/drink
Day 8 - Morning out on beach (San Jose del Cabo); gorge on tacos; board plane
Perfect.
A while back I spoofed some sites that were holding household pets for ransom over at
www.saveshelby.com &
www.smashshelby.com. The sites were just for fun but I did get a couple negative reactions to it and so I wanted to point out that not only has Shelby been saved, but he has been returned to his home state.
Because he came to us on a celery stalk from California and because Minnesota winters don't seem like the type of thing such a snail can withstand (though I may be wrong), Jena and I decided the only thing to do was to pack Shelby up on a recent trip to San Diego and bring her home. The photo shown here is on Shelby just after we released her in Balboa Park outside the famed San Diego Zoo.
Before I get to dispensing today's links I wanted to announce a couple more posts to the
Alt Text Photo Gallery. Within the
Travel - Road Trips section I have posted two new galleries of some recent travels this summer / fall. The first is a
Labor Day weekend trip through the Badlands and Black Hills that Jena and I took with some friends and the second is
a canoe trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (my second and Jena's first time to a beautiful part of the world). I didn't do much in the way of optimizing or messin' with the photos but, I hope you enjoy them, nonetheless.
Now on with the links:
"If Kevin Garnett were only 5-foot-8, pudgy and going to work on a newspaper delivery truck, I doubt if many sports journalists would fret about his future."
-Mike Royko, Buffalo News, June 30, 1995
On Friday I hosted a bonfire and Halloween party at our house. We did it up right and had a lot of fun. It was the type of party where I ended up falling asleep on the kitchen floor - which I actually did. I took photos of many of the guests as they arrived and my friend Jesse took a bunch more as he was appropriately costumed as a member of the paparazzi. Check out my photos and a few of his in a new Alt Text photo gallery (updated link) as well as a bunch more at his site.
Extra Credit: For those who are paying attention to such things, I also just returned from a long weekend in San Diego. We had really bad weather by Southern California standards as it was in the 60's and rained several days. We still had fun going out in the Gaslamp Quarter, checking out some animals at the zoos, and of course, taking in Tijuana. There are a few photos of that trip up in the galleries as well.
I will be out and about for the next couple days in San Diego, Tijuana, and some vineyard in Temecula. I don't know if I will be posting or not - chances are not - but I have had requests (seriously) to post more about myself and my life etc. That's something I have been meaning to do much more of anyway. It's starting to feel downright Kottke-esq around here. (and not in the good - find a lot of cols stuff to post about way - but rather the I am not letting you know a damn thing about my life sorta way). When I get back we can talk, catch up. I'll show you some photos, we can talk about my upcoming Halloween party, new music, and Emeril's sweet potato salad. It'll be nice. Peace.
Random site link for the next generation.
Alt Text just had a birthday and I didn't do anything for it. I am a real bad daddy. I thought the least I could do then, is to devote a post to Alt Text, as sort of a belated birthday gift. Here are some figures that represent important milestones and/or bogus stats regarding the site I have called my home on the web for quite some time now:
1: Number of steps to Jason "I knew him when 0sil8 was alive" Kottke (very similar to the Kevin Bacon game) I used to work with him in Minneapolis.
2: Times Alt Text or ancestor site has been written up in print.
3: Separate "blogs" that make up Alt Text (Main posts, lists, and media consumption).
3: Also the number of jobs I have had during Alt Text's tenure.
4: Servers on which the site has been hosted. Oddly Alt Text has never been hosted on a "commercial server" and has always been a part of hosting co-ops where friends banded together to provide for one another.
7: Years Alt Text has been around (Domain was registered October 1st, 1998); Previous incarnations and ghost sites that are now "rolled into" Alt Text: BenOnFilm.com, aberro.com, and abberratum.com (all previously snatched up when they expired - now I have BenOnFilm.com back!). For you forward thinking domain snatchers out there AltText.com expires on September 30th, 2012 - mark your calendars.
10: Prior versions of this site (the first couple incarnations were from the aforementioned sites that were "folded into" this site).
77: Current number of draft posts stored up
496: Posts categorized as "general" to which I still need to apply categories.
1,152: Total number of posts
2,553: Unique visitors in January of 2001
40,915: Unique visitors in September of 2005 (though I suspect the greatly increased spider and bot traffic to be a main contributor to that figure).
Due to infrequent posts as of late I wanted to mention some of the things that have been keeping me away from the web lately. Living in Minnesota means taking advantage of god weather when you can get it and the end of the summer signals to me that it has been time to do something I have been holding off on doing. First came the landscaping, yard work and planting. Jena and I have built a stone fire pit and patio this summer, planted 40 or so plants here and there around the house, and had contractors come in to pour a new patio and re-grade a couple areas (prompting more rock moving and grass planting etc.). I still have some more projects too (ugh!): complete the wiring of some columns in the front of the house, attach rock/faux rock to said columns, and clean up from the previous projects.
In addition to yard work we have found time to take a couple trips. We just returned from 4 days in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which was great and over Labor Day Weekend we drove across South Dakota to the Black Hills and the Badlands for some camping and sight seeing.
Add to these things a major product release at work and a couple kickball leagues (yeah I said kickball) and there is precious little time to surf and post. Rest assured, however that as the weather here in Minnesota gets worse the posting frequency will increase as I am quite excited about the web and Alt Text lately.
- Patent Room is a very neat site showcasing drawings submitted with patent applications of the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.
- I really need very little reason to post a link about Daniel Quinn's novel Ishmael Jason's post/mini review of it seems like reason enough. I have been thinking more and more about these issues lately. These things go in cycles.
- Flash + Evangelical Christianity + Kirk Cameron = A maddening desire to kill
- Nice CSS dropshadow technique that doesn't use CSS hacks or javascript.
- If you saw any of the following: Hollow Man, Vertical Limit, A Knight's Tale, The Animal, or The Patriot in a theater you may be entitled to your money back (pdf). Looks as though Sony used a made-up film critic named: David Manning to hype those films. God, if I could just get the same deal for: American Psycho, Blade, Congo, The Haunting, Malibu's Most Wanted, and Mr. Deeds.
- Snopes' list of unanswerable questions they have received that have a sense of urgency to them. Some favorites include mention of: Cat's eating a dead person's face off, hickies, penguin eggs, bananas, witches, and Corona among many other bizarre requests. Some of the requests however really give Snopes a lot of credit. Here is my favorite:
if anyone understands what im (sic). saying please e-mail me at this e-mail adress (sic).
does anyone here bilieve (sic) that there are aliens in other planets? who really made us is there really a god? im not saying there isnt (sic). but who made god? seriously please answer back at me
- Ever wanted to compare Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth side-by-side?
Atheist. Agnostic. Thanks to the writings of Kurt Vonnegut, I now have a new label to use when describing my views: Humanist
I do not think that corporations should have the same rights as actual human citizens. Further, I think we should revisit the pacts that corporations function under when granted such status from the states in which the incorporate. I am not proposing that the privilege of incorporation be granted solely to enable activities that benefit the public, such as construction of roads or canals, as was the case when corporations were first established. But wouldn't it be nice it they were at least neutral to the public's interests?
You'd think that things like disasters, or the purity of childhood, or even milk, let alone water or air, would be sacred. But no. Corporations have no built-in limits on what, who, or how much they can exploit for profit. [The Corporation]
The states used to impose certain conditions on those corporations that were granted (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these:
- Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.
- Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.
- Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose.
- Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.
- Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.
- Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.
[SOURCE:
Reclaim Democracy's: Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States]
Through lobbying and paying off politicians over the years, corporations have rendered all of these laws (and more) obsolete and have effectively put themselves above the law - even those laws that apply to you and me. If you throw a McDonald's wrapper out the window of your car (I recommend neither eating McDonald's nor littering) you could get a fine of up to $700 but America's industry throws the equivalent of millions of wrappers into our air, water and land each day without consequence. And while we all (well most of us) pay income taxes like suckers, our "corporate citizens" often pay little or no income tax1.
The main problem is that corporations are treated as real persons according to some laws but not others. Furthermore, corporations do not have the same moral obligations that people do. The only lawful obligation a corporation has is to generate profit for its shareholders. If making money way your only motivation, how would your actions change? Even the most unscrupulous of people in business have at least a few other motivations. Most corporations corporate persons, do not share this with us.
Corporate personhood is the doctrine that corporations are considered to be individual persons in the eyes of the law. Corporate personhood is the most critical social and political issue of our time. It lies at the heart of campaign finance reform, labor abuse, deterioration of communities, destruction of the environment, and more. [PersonsInc]
Some corporations are beginning to see how their corporate actions are affecting the earth (it's people, societies, and environment) and are taking steps to ensure that our kids' kids will be able to enjoy a life such as ours. Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, Inc, the world's largest carpet manufacturer (and maker of the very cool interface flor tiles) has identified the following "7 Fronts" on which to wage a war of change:
- Eliminate Waste: Eliminating all forms of waste in every area of business;
- Benign Emissions: Eliminating toxic substances from products, vehicles and facilities;
- Renewable Energy: Operating facilities with renewable energy sources – solar, wind, landfill gas, biomass and low impact hydroelectric;
- Closing the Loop: Redesigning processes and products to close the technical loop using recovered and bio-based materials;
- Resource-Efficient Transportation: Transporting people and products efficiently to reduce waste and emissions;
- Sensitizing Stakeholders: Creating a culture that integrates sustainability principles and improves people’s lives and livelihoods;
- Redesign Commerce: Creating a new business model that demonstrates and supports the value of sustainability-based commerce;
Interface has even set up an entire website at interfacesustainability.com to outline its sustainability practices.
Since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring began to expose the abuses of the modern industrial system, there has been a growing awareness that profit at the expense of Earth--of individuals, society, and the environment--is unsustainable. - Ray Anderson, CEO, Interface, Inc.
There is far more that I could post now than I should post now, so I will end this post with a few links to some groups — actually a suprisingly large number of groups — taking up this, and related, issues. Here are a few:
1 - Even in the "over-taxed" state of Minnesota, there are plenty of large companies (3M, U.S. Bank, Target, General Mills to name a few) that legally pay less than a 5% effective tax rate by utilizing methods of tax reduction not available to "average citizens". See the story.
Yesterday marked a special occasion for the homeowner in me: the first time I have mowed my own lawn. You might ask how can that be if you know that I have owned my own home more or less since 1998. You might wonder, haven't you been in your current home form more than 2 years? Well yes you might, or you might want me to stop writing about lawn mowing.
Years of living in a townhouse or in homes owned by others combined with the nearly 2 years it has taken to get a proper, mowable lawn in place at my new house have made yesterday's milestone event possible.
You all know that Jason now lives entirely off of Pay Pal donations. You may have also seen the Save Toby site where a guy ransoms the life of his bunny in exchange for Pay Pal donations. Well, this is totally different: Save Shelby / Smash Shelby: You decide.
One of the saddest things about the recent school shooting here in Minnesota is that many people (myself included) aren't surprised by it. There isn't a sense of shock or even calls for reform. What can we do? What has to happen for events such as these to be shocking again?
I have heard interviews with local residents claiming that they felt safe going into the school because of the guards and metal detectors at the doors. That makes people feel safe? This is how we are fixing the problem? Does anyone think that metal detectors and guards are going to stop acts like this? People who do are fooling themselves with quick-fix, knee-jerk reactions that do nothing to cure the causes of such acts.
While the media outlets all focus on Nazis, video games, blogging, violent videos, and mean faces, the root causes of this and other such actions are greatly under-investigated. Some have written that Weise had been taking the anti-depressant Prozac but seem interested only in taking shots at the drug with such stories. Maybe it is too soon, but what I have yet to see is an earnest attempt to discuss a major problem our society has: ever weakening social networks, a diminishing sense of community, and lack of feelings of responsibility for the well-being our fellow citizens.
I don't mean to sound like a hippy here, but I think that we wouldn't be seeing as much violence in schools (or elsewhere) if there were more loving of thy neighbor. Today we spend more time away from our communities than ever before. We commute to work alone, pick up lunch at a drive-thru and eat at our desks, go home to a home just like everyone else, filled with all the same things, yet we go there and spend time alone with only our immediate families.
It is somewhat ironic that this tragedy occurred on a native tribal reservation as this would be a place where, in theory, the sense of community is stronger. But it shows just how troubling life can become for a young kid who has lost his most important connections (both his parents) and the community fails to support him (in the form of allowing him to be bullied and teased unremittingly).
Things like these events didn't always happen. They couldn't - people were too involved in each other’s lives to allow the type of isolation and despair that young, Jeff Weise experienced. And while I do not pretend to think the failings of contemporary communities are the only forces at work in events such as these, I do believe these failings play a very important role that is under-reported.
Reference:
A chronology of recent school shootings
Last night at the airport I noticed Eric Meyer's iTunes share (UPDATE: it turns out that it wasn't THE Eric Meyer who I saw, didn't see at the airport - I thought I would have recognized him) as I had my laptop open trying to get on the stupid MSP non-free wireless network. Anyway, this morning I am sitting in my hotel room, tying up some loose work ends, I noticed that there were several other iTunes shares showing up in iTunes. I got to thinking this might be a way to meet people so I put my email address in the share name and not more than a minute later I have an email from Kevin Lawver and learned of his plans this week.
I am going to replace my normal share name in iTunes with my email address and encourage you to do the same. Anyone out there who happens across my music to drop me a note if you are interested in getting together for a drink or whatnot. You already know if we share the same tastes in music so we will at least have that plus the conference to talk about. Now I have a reason to lug this giant laptop to the conference sessions. Too bad much of my music in iTunes is "ghosted" right now , residing on a lonely external hard drive back in Minneapolis.
Update: Can't get a hold of me? Call my hotel room directly and leave a message: 512-493-3765.
Going to SXSW is a bit like going to a high school reunion. You know everyone there, or at least have recollections of them, but you are hazy about which sites go with who and often, can't quite place names with blogs …er faces. Unlike high school reunions, however, all the participants, at least at a basic level, have one interest in common: the internet(s).
Luckily that is one less thing I have to pack. The internet is already there (or so they tell me). Here is a list of other essentials I will be bringing:
- Outgoing attitude - These things are most beneficial and rewarding if you bring along a willingness and eagerness to meet and interact with your peers. I am hoping to do a better job of this than in prior years.
- Laptop - mostly for back at the hotel - not too much real-time blogging going to happen here, though who knows.
- Camera - I bring this with everywhere so this isn't really news. Plus maybe I can finally catch Matt and Jason making out.
- Digital audio recorder - so I can remember what is said without taking so much time for notes. Plus the company that is sending me appreciates it. Doubles as an mp3 player.
- Digital notebook/pen - we recently picked up a couple of this doohickeys at my company and they work pretty well. I can take notes on special paper with a really fine grid on it and then upload them to my computer. Now I can search my notes without flipping through page after page of notes.
- Some DVD's from Netflix. Mostly for the plane rides.
- Alt Text t-shirts for folks who want one - just come find me and let me know.
- Mobile phone - I will have this so that people can get a hold of me while I am in Austin - if you want the number just ask.
- A couple books - for any downtime I might have, though between the conferences, movies, and social networking I am not sure how much downtime there will be.
Other than some clothes I think that covers it. To recap, if I see you don't be alarmed if I say hi and if you see me please feel free to start chatting with me. See you there!
Many of you may know that I have started a new job this year, indeed a new twist in my career. Because my business cards now say designer on them I can finally enjoy all the perks those prima donnas have been wallowing in for all these years. One such perk is a fantastic workstation setup currently consisting of a Dell Inspiron 9200 laptop with a great 17" screen with a wide aspect ratio (1920 x 1200 native resolution). It has wireless and Bluetooth built in, is fast as all get out, and even has a friggin' subwoofer built-in! What better monitor to accompany this fine machine than a 23" Apple Cinema Display with the same native resolution. If there is a better feeling in the world than looking at this screen all day, I don't want to know it.
- Moto Razr V3 Phone - this phone is slick with mpeg video playback, camera, a soeakerphone and bluetooth - not to mention the design of it.
- Segway Centuar Concept - the video looks pretty cool for this - but it does seem just like a segway with a couple extra wheels.
Those who follow such matters know that I built a house last year and have been involved in multiple projects since then, mostly involving pushing around large rocks and piles of dirt. This fall we put down grass seed in most of our yard and to our amazement grass actually grew! I mention seeding because we made conscious decision to seed our lawn rather than sod. For those who don't know sod is considered by many to be very bad for the environment due to extensive use of chemicals during the growing process (including carcinogens in atrazine, etc.) and because sod strips away so much topsoil each time it is harvested, rendering the land useless for several seasons.
I tell you this not to lecture but to give one reason why we decided to seed and setup my next statements. In addition to all the landscaping work I have done this summer, there were construction crews rebuilding our local sewer system and putting in new curbs and streets. When they were done (yesterday) they took an area that we have planned to put down mulch and small bushes and laid sod. My dilemma now is that I don't want to waste the, already wasteful sod, yet I really didn't want it, — it just wasn't part of our plans for the area. Not sure what I am going to do — most likely nothing until next year when I re-evaluate.
Not doing anything tonight for the debates? Didn't know the debates were on? Still do not know what I am talking about? Come over to my debate watching party tonight if you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area.
My grandmother passed away this weekend — the one that I thought would live forever. She could never sit still and was always the picture of a healthy active woman. Six years ago she was struck by PSP, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy a debilitating disease that results in gradual loss of certain brain cells causing slowing of movement and reduced control of walking, balance, swallowing, speaking and eye movement. It has been diagnosed in just 20,000 people.
I thought I would use this post as a very, very small memorial to a woman that taught me much about living and about how to let others live and how to take life as it comes. I will miss you grandma.
10 Memories I Have of My Grandma
- Not one to waste, my grandmother would often, facing scorn and ridicule, do things such as wash paper plates (and not the plastic coated kind), bring "extra" chicken home from buffet dinners in her watermelon-sized purse, and reuse plastic bags past the point which that it was probably safe. All the while she was proudly defiant, certain that she was right to be thrifty.
- For years my grandmother (and my mother) would spend the better portion of two days each week on dark, smokey alleys...bowling. I remember going with them and feeling like I owned the joint — playing video games until the quarters ran out and establishing a social hierarchy with the other bowling brats ala Lord of the Flies.
- "Why don't you turn that off?" or some variation such as "That is no good, why don't you turn that garbage off?" was almost my grandmother's mantra on those holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas on which football games were broadcast. I am not sure if she really didn't like the sport or she rather more, relished in the anguished cries for her to be quiet from all the men.
- My first golfing experience was when my grandma took me to the local 9-hole, par 3 course and, with the patience of a saint — and the ball supply of...well, something with a lot of balls — proceeded to teach me about the game. Aside from the time alone with my grandma, I also distinctly remember the two of us running out of site as a shot of mine sailed well right and into some nearby apartment buildings.
- "Don't tell your grandpa." That was a favorite game of both my grandma and my grandpa. They would each tell me this in hushed, conspiratorial tones, perhaps after just buying me an ice cream cone, or covertly slipping a $20 bill into my shirt pocket. I always thought I was getting away with something but the more I think about it, I am sure they each knew (if they weren't co-conspirators) what the other was doing.
- Though some claim it is impossible I can recall my very first new years eve. Being a baby, I was in bed long before midnight, however, wanting to expand my palate to the finer things in life sooner rather than later, I climbed out of my crib, crawled out of the bedroom, down the hall, and looked up at my grandparents who were babysitting me and, at the moment, were eating a lobster dinner with champagne. And though I was only 7 1/2 months old, I still got to try both.
- My grandmother could kick anyone's ass in Scrabble. She knew words that began with "q" but not "qu" and all the words with an "x" or "z" in them.
- Every Christmas we would spend the evening of the 24th at my grandparents home. This practice not only allowed my sisters and I to get together with the cousins and uncles and aunts (and get more gifts), but it also gave us a sense of stability. We came back to the same house year in and year out, despite the fact that we may have moved our own home once or even twice that year.
- Though her given name was Betty, my sisters and I called her "Super Grandma". Though this moniker was earned over time, it was bestowed after the three of us were locked out of our house on a hot summer day. She came to the rescue and took us out for ice cream.
- Every summer we would fish off the dock at Lake Johanna just down the road from her house. We must have pulled in 20-30 sunfish each time we went. After spending all day telling me that I was a great fisherman despite the fact that most of these fish I caught could swim through the small holes in a net and that she would bait my hook and remove the fish, and despite the fact that she went home and cleaned all the fish, cooked them, and sat with me while I ate — despite all these things, she still found time to regale me with the days fishing feats, and treat me, for that afternoon, as if I was the only person she knew.
I decided to write down and disclose to the world some of the things I would like to do in my life:
Skydive - tentatively planned for next May/June
Write a book - I have to practice, much, much more
Get elected to a government office - a consolation could be working for a successful campaign and being a "staffer".
Travel to every part of the world - I really want to visit (and have some extended vacations of a couple months) many places on all 7 continents — yeah I would go to Antarctica.
Live in a couple different U.S. cities - top choices right now would be N.Y. and San Fran.
Live in at least one other county - I can't have my only experience be living in the most wealthy and powerful country on earth
Teach - While I have taught technology classes at local colleges and universities I would really like to teach something better like History, Civics, Art, or Literature.
Run a successful small business - I have some in the works but I wasn't thinking that small.
Hang Glide - the closest thing to flying there is.
Go into space - the longest shot in more ways than one
Learn more - I want to continue being curious and learning new things my entire life.
That should get me by a while — at least through the next few weeks I would think.
The great thing about my new job is that in addition to the strategic and information architecture responsibilities I have a great deal of input and hands on creation of the interface design and information design from a structural, presentation, and visual perspective. First up is an online application for employee improvement goal setting and planning.
I really feel as though I have found the perfect place for this point in my career. I get to work with a rapidly-growing, well respected company whose able and energetic team is also very proud and motivated to continue the company's success. Throw me into the middle of a small and dedicated development team and I think we have all the tools to do dome really great things.
Extreme busy-ness is nothing new and it is certainly no excuse for the significant lack of content here at Alt Text. I have been making changes to the site and reorganizing stuff.
I have also been busy on my yard, what with retaining walls, railings, and columns to build and plants, trees, and grass to grow.
Finally, I have changed jobs — today is actually my first day in my new role as Information Architect for small but rapidly growing online application company aimed at improving the people and companies who use their products.
I will post more soon (and more about the upcoming site changes) and I vow to post more consistently and make better quality posts that contribute to the general public discourse. Thanks for visiting Alt text.
New trip photos have been posted in the Europe '04 gallery here on Alt Text. I am just adding them as I get time so check back.
I plan on retouching many of these photos and creating a seperate album of "good ones". So if you don't care to browse all the photos in the galleries with me looking stupid standing in front of stuff you can wait a couple days.
I was able to upload a few images from our trip. I wouldn't say these are highlights but I grabbed a few that caught my eye. I have done no retouching yet and so these may all change soon.
I am back from a great European vacation that took me through Holland, Belgium, and France seeing lovely, quaint towns and beautiful sites with my lovely and beautiful wife. Now I am back and reenergized. I didn't even mind getting up at 6 this morning to come into work. I'll post some photos this afternoon.
I am having a great time in Europe. Haarlem and Amsterdam in Holland have been the favorites so far — off to Belgium and France next. Hope you can forgive the sporadic posting.
1. Are you superstitious? Not really, though sometimes I knock on wood or avoid walking beneath ladders — that latter seems like common sense, the former just stupid.
2. What extremes have you heard of someone going to in the name of superstition? Baseball players come to mind — wearing certain lucky wristbands and underwear and the like.
3. Believer or not, what's your favorite superstition? I think the idea of carrying a dead rodent's foot is pretty amusing.
4. Do you believe in luck? If yes, do you have a lucky number/article of clothing/ritual? Yes but I am not sure why. I used to be extremely lucky — I would win everything: raffles, contests, etc. My mom would use only my name because I always won. Lucky number 8 — why should 7 get all the fun?
5. Do you believe in astrology? Why or why not? Nope, may the heavens rain fire upon me.
From The Friday Five
I am posting this from the Wild game. We're in a nice suite courtesy of my employer and since they are down 2-1 and goals are hard to come by I thought I would post.
One reason why there haven't been as many posts the last week or so is because I have been out
