Or "Happy Holidays" if I'm to be politically correct. So Schuba's is on the list for tonight to see an old high school acquaintance that happens to be a friend of my girlfriend play with his band. Should be a fun time and a good way to kick-off my holiday break.
I'm still not done with gifts. 30 hours until Christmas and I've got one Amazon order trickling in, a few more to wrap, and they all need to get from Chicago to Elgin tomorrow in a wonderful snow/rain storm. I can't wait. Actually, I'm way ahead of schedule compared to my norm for the holiday season. Looks like I won't be up til the small hours tomorrow night. Sweet. Sleep.
Merry Christmas, everyone. Enjoy what warmth you find in family, friends, and bottles of joy.
And if you need some lewd humor from a few years ago:
23 December 2008
15 December 2008
chi-city
Friday night was my company's holiday party. It was a festive evening up on the 95th floor of the Hancock tower downtown. The view was incredible, and I did my best with some long exposures and a steadied camera next to a frozen window mullion.
10 December 2008
superintendent's words
Fell into my inbox this morning: An email with quotes from "a central-casting superintendent of the old school." The words belong to Jim Roosa, who passed away November 6, 2008. As the email's author says, "look past the 'construction language' and enjoy."
1. I’d rather be the only girl on a Greek freighter than sit in that meeting
2. He wouldn’t say XXXX if he had a mouth full of it
3. Run a job? He couldn’t organize a one car funeral
4. He’s slower then the second coming
5. It’s like killing chickens, there really is no clean way to do it
6. He’s stuck in my neck like a chicken bone. Can’t swallow him and can’t spit him out.
7. It’s so messed up it stands out like a XXXX-house in a fog.
8. He doesn’t have enough common sense to know to get out of the rain.
9. If I tell you it’s Easter, you better start looking for Easter eggs.
10. If I go in there without knowing the answers, they will be looking at me like a bug in a jar.
11. Hey what’s done is done, you can’t put XXXX back in the donkey (credits to Tony Soprano)
12. They are so stupid they would XXXX up a free lunch.
13. He doesn’t know if it’s raining or Thursday.
14. I’ll be watching you like a chicken hawk
15. If he were a gazelle on the Serengeti he would have been eaten by now.
16. They want us to track every bolt. Next thing you know we'll be counting light bulbs. It's like picking fly sh#% out of pepper.
17. He doesn’t know sh#% from Shinola
18. Let me tell you something, I ain’t as dumb as you look
19. The moron couldn’t put together a two camel caravan
20. If I tell you it’s Christmas you’d better start singing me Silent Night
21. Why don’t you just go back to the office and count some more paperclips, pretty boy?
22. Drawings? You can roll up those drawings real tight and stick them up where the sun don’t shine.
23. You’d better square up you’re a$$ and start XXXXing me Tiffany cufflinks (borrowed from Full Metal Jacket/ Sgt. Hartman, but used often)
24. He’s just an office rat, you know, a Wall Street Journal in one hand and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the other
25. Hey, you, how come I’m talking and I don’t see pencils moving! (from a subs’ meeting)
26. Your extra tickets? Yes I got them, they are going through the shredder as we speak.
27. How ‘bout I sign your extra tickets as “Abraham Lincoln”
28. Shut up. When I want your opinion I’ll give it to you.
29. If it can’t kill you it ain’t construction
30. Do I have to get an Act of Congress or call George Bush to get you off your lazy a$$?
31. Get out of the trailer and knock on the door first
32. He’s a real BS artist, can talk his way out of a traffic jam
33. Think about how many mouse-clickers we can fit on this floor
34. I’m gonna go out there and stir up some XXXX just for the heck of it. Keep’em on their toes.
35. Watch your step buddy, I got a caisson with your name on it.
36. Did I tell you about the job that burned down to the ground in Cleveland in 1961? That’s not in the corporate brochure.
37. Make sure you don’t lose (insert name of an Executive Vice President) in the building
38. And tell him not to wear his Gucci slippers when he comes to my jobsite.
39. I don’t give a XXXX how you did it at (insert name of another superintendent’s job)
40. Sometimes I think he screws things up just because he can’t stand prosperity
41. Cheap SOB’s – they’d take the low bid if it was from Charles Manson
42. I remember him well, used to take his lunch money in grade school
43. Laptop? You won’t be needing a laptop. You won’t be spending much time in the trailer. Better go buy some thermal underwear.
44. Not much you can do with him. All you can do is give him a map and a ham sandwich and send him on his way.
45. If you can draw it up on your funny paper, I can build it.
46. If you have to talk, make it real quick. One word or less.
1. I’d rather be the only girl on a Greek freighter than sit in that meeting
2. He wouldn’t say XXXX if he had a mouth full of it
3. Run a job? He couldn’t organize a one car funeral
4. He’s slower then the second coming
5. It’s like killing chickens, there really is no clean way to do it
6. He’s stuck in my neck like a chicken bone. Can’t swallow him and can’t spit him out.
7. It’s so messed up it stands out like a XXXX-house in a fog.
8. He doesn’t have enough common sense to know to get out of the rain.
9. If I tell you it’s Easter, you better start looking for Easter eggs.
10. If I go in there without knowing the answers, they will be looking at me like a bug in a jar.
11. Hey what’s done is done, you can’t put XXXX back in the donkey (credits to Tony Soprano)
12. They are so stupid they would XXXX up a free lunch.
13. He doesn’t know if it’s raining or Thursday.
14. I’ll be watching you like a chicken hawk
15. If he were a gazelle on the Serengeti he would have been eaten by now.
16. They want us to track every bolt. Next thing you know we'll be counting light bulbs. It's like picking fly sh#% out of pepper.
17. He doesn’t know sh#% from Shinola
18. Let me tell you something, I ain’t as dumb as you look
19. The moron couldn’t put together a two camel caravan
20. If I tell you it’s Christmas you’d better start singing me Silent Night
21. Why don’t you just go back to the office and count some more paperclips, pretty boy?
22. Drawings? You can roll up those drawings real tight and stick them up where the sun don’t shine.
23. You’d better square up you’re a$$ and start XXXXing me Tiffany cufflinks (borrowed from Full Metal Jacket/ Sgt. Hartman, but used often)
24. He’s just an office rat, you know, a Wall Street Journal in one hand and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the other
25. Hey, you, how come I’m talking and I don’t see pencils moving! (from a subs’ meeting)
26. Your extra tickets? Yes I got them, they are going through the shredder as we speak.
27. How ‘bout I sign your extra tickets as “Abraham Lincoln”
28. Shut up. When I want your opinion I’ll give it to you.
29. If it can’t kill you it ain’t construction
30. Do I have to get an Act of Congress or call George Bush to get you off your lazy a$$?
31. Get out of the trailer and knock on the door first
32. He’s a real BS artist, can talk his way out of a traffic jam
33. Think about how many mouse-clickers we can fit on this floor
34. I’m gonna go out there and stir up some XXXX just for the heck of it. Keep’em on their toes.
35. Watch your step buddy, I got a caisson with your name on it.
36. Did I tell you about the job that burned down to the ground in Cleveland in 1961? That’s not in the corporate brochure.
37. Make sure you don’t lose (insert name of an Executive Vice President) in the building
38. And tell him not to wear his Gucci slippers when he comes to my jobsite.
39. I don’t give a XXXX how you did it at (insert name of another superintendent’s job)
40. Sometimes I think he screws things up just because he can’t stand prosperity
41. Cheap SOB’s – they’d take the low bid if it was from Charles Manson
42. I remember him well, used to take his lunch money in grade school
43. Laptop? You won’t be needing a laptop. You won’t be spending much time in the trailer. Better go buy some thermal underwear.
44. Not much you can do with him. All you can do is give him a map and a ham sandwich and send him on his way.
45. If you can draw it up on your funny paper, I can build it.
46. If you have to talk, make it real quick. One word or less.
08 December 2008
brain dump
I should do this more often, but I'm trying to force my brain to excrete what it likes to think about. Easier said than done... This was a stream-of-consciousness thing, so please excuse the typos.
'architectural digital technology'
understanding computers
ones and zeroes
moore's law - when will it end?
affect of digital on the world's economy
efficiency, collaboration
breaking borders, geography no longer matters
work in a cube
your computer is your new home
spatiality of the digital world
spatial metaphors
information is wealth more than ever
common appreciation for design
apple, microsoft, google, yahoo, facebook
visualiziaton
communication
conceptualization
2d vs 3d vs 4d
mathematics of rendering
turning reality into numbers
blue pill, red pill, the matrix
virtually boundless capacity for storing information
grid computing
the cloud
capacity for computing continues to be pushed
push for hardware
push for software
hardware vs software
building design
building information modelling
why are computers still dumb?
color spaces, gamuts, the human eye
input devices - keyboard, mouse, voice, motion
display devices - crts, lcds, olcds, projectors
device size and its effect on workflows
contant communication
digital addiction
virtual communicative workspaces - message boards, wikis, email, chats
applicability of architectural design to the digital realm
human beings existing in a 2d world
dehumanization
evolution
permanence of digital information and spatiality
ease of 3d design - sketchup, modelling, shaping, molding
mathematics and geometry of digital modelling - polygons, faces, curves, nurbs, vertices, vectors
visualizing information - radiohead's house of cards
edward tufte
resolution - printed, screen, rods and cones
video game generation - comfort and familiarity with 3d
native and intuitive interfaces
the layer metaphor
sketch, talk, model, render, revise, repeat
copyrights and intellectual property - clinging on to 20th c. reality
architects are designers of space - this can be applied to just about anything
pragmatic thinking in a digital world
'architectural digital technology'
understanding computers
ones and zeroes
moore's law - when will it end?
affect of digital on the world's economy
efficiency, collaboration
breaking borders, geography no longer matters
work in a cube
your computer is your new home
spatiality of the digital world
spatial metaphors
information is wealth more than ever
common appreciation for design
apple, microsoft, google, yahoo, facebook
visualiziaton
communication
conceptualization
2d vs 3d vs 4d
mathematics of rendering
turning reality into numbers
blue pill, red pill, the matrix
virtually boundless capacity for storing information
grid computing
the cloud
capacity for computing continues to be pushed
push for hardware
push for software
hardware vs software
building design
building information modelling
why are computers still dumb?
color spaces, gamuts, the human eye
input devices - keyboard, mouse, voice, motion
display devices - crts, lcds, olcds, projectors
device size and its effect on workflows
contant communication
digital addiction
virtual communicative workspaces - message boards, wikis, email, chats
applicability of architectural design to the digital realm
human beings existing in a 2d world
dehumanization
evolution
permanence of digital information and spatiality
ease of 3d design - sketchup, modelling, shaping, molding
mathematics and geometry of digital modelling - polygons, faces, curves, nurbs, vertices, vectors
visualizing information - radiohead's house of cards
edward tufte
resolution - printed, screen, rods and cones
video game generation - comfort and familiarity with 3d
native and intuitive interfaces
the layer metaphor
sketch, talk, model, render, revise, repeat
copyrights and intellectual property - clinging on to 20th c. reality
architects are designers of space - this can be applied to just about anything
pragmatic thinking in a digital world
17 November 2008
28 October 2008
flu shots
I know fall is here because I cannot go anywhere without an ad, billboard, or email reminding me to get my flu shot. I've been joking a lot with friends about absurd conspiracy theories behind the shots (that they allow the government to track everyone... heh), so I figured I'd throw a few minutes into some internet "research" this morning.
The American authority on this matter are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I also referenced a bit of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
About 10-20% of Americans get the flu virus each year.
The flu shot prevents influenza for 70-90% healthy adults under 65 years old, 30-70% of those over 65.
Okay, fine n dandy. What gets icky about these vaccinations is when the CDC touts that "the flu causes" 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations annually. These deaths are based on statistical models, not on real, recorded deaths. I'm an engineer and love numbers, but I also realize these numbers are recorded by people, and if you look for real numbers of recorded deaths directly attributable to flu, it's difficult to find stats of more than 1000 in a year.
What the CDC does is lump flu with pneumonia for its statistics, and sometimes the data is even more general as "respiratory illness." For instance, here's the 07-08 summary.
90% of deaths and 63% of hospitalizations due to flu / pneumonia occur for those over 65 years old (source).
What remains unclear from my brief research is the link between flu and pneumonia because the CDC simply states "flu can lead to pneumonia." This excerpt with CDC sources shows that of the 62,034 deaths from flu/pneumonia in 2001, only 0.4% were from the flu.
Think about that. How many of those 0.4% led to the other 99.6% of deaths - the link that the CDC suggests? Were those 99.6% bacterial or viral pneumonia? If anyone can find this data, please share.
Peter Doshi, while a Harvard graduate student, wrote a nice review on this topic, which was posted in the British Medical Journal.
My conclusion, before I get into conspiracy theory: consider a pneumonia and a flu vaccine.
I tend to believe in the evils of money - not that people singlehandedly have malicious intentions, but where machinations can be obscured in groups, data, and collective-thinking, it seems to be easy for things to go awry. Consider our present financial crisis...
The flu vaccine is given about 80 million times annually in the US. From my own rough sampling, these cost about $20 each. That's $1.6 billion. Each year. Contrast this with about $30 for a pneumonia vaccine, but consider that these last up to 10 years. That's potentially only $240 million per year. Not quite as lucrative... 15% as lucrative.
My final comment: Vaccines are good. I'm glad we have science that can provide these wonders. Just please be aware of how they are being used.
And if you want more controversy, mercury.
The American authority on this matter are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I also referenced a bit of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
About 10-20% of Americans get the flu virus each year.
The flu shot prevents influenza for 70-90% healthy adults under 65 years old, 30-70% of those over 65.
Okay, fine n dandy. What gets icky about these vaccinations is when the CDC touts that "the flu causes" 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations annually. These deaths are based on statistical models, not on real, recorded deaths. I'm an engineer and love numbers, but I also realize these numbers are recorded by people, and if you look for real numbers of recorded deaths directly attributable to flu, it's difficult to find stats of more than 1000 in a year.
What the CDC does is lump flu with pneumonia for its statistics, and sometimes the data is even more general as "respiratory illness." For instance, here's the 07-08 summary.
90% of deaths and 63% of hospitalizations due to flu / pneumonia occur for those over 65 years old (source).
What remains unclear from my brief research is the link between flu and pneumonia because the CDC simply states "flu can lead to pneumonia." This excerpt with CDC sources shows that of the 62,034 deaths from flu/pneumonia in 2001, only 0.4% were from the flu.
Think about that. How many of those 0.4% led to the other 99.6% of deaths - the link that the CDC suggests? Were those 99.6% bacterial or viral pneumonia? If anyone can find this data, please share.
Peter Doshi, while a Harvard graduate student, wrote a nice review on this topic, which was posted in the British Medical Journal.
My conclusion, before I get into conspiracy theory: consider a pneumonia and a flu vaccine.
I tend to believe in the evils of money - not that people singlehandedly have malicious intentions, but where machinations can be obscured in groups, data, and collective-thinking, it seems to be easy for things to go awry. Consider our present financial crisis...
The flu vaccine is given about 80 million times annually in the US. From my own rough sampling, these cost about $20 each. That's $1.6 billion. Each year. Contrast this with about $30 for a pneumonia vaccine, but consider that these last up to 10 years. That's potentially only $240 million per year. Not quite as lucrative... 15% as lucrative.
My final comment: Vaccines are good. I'm glad we have science that can provide these wonders. Just please be aware of how they are being used.
And if you want more controversy, mercury.
21 October 2008
09 October 2008
day 3
I'm on my third day of being part of the iphone elite. Psh!
This iphone thing is probably the coolest gadget I have ever used:
I downloaded the Laundry app, which when I run it, not only does my laundry, but also separates the darks from the whites from the colors. Yesterday, I grabbed the Maid app, which has this funny character that reminds me of Rosie from the Jetsons, but she left my shower as clean as the day I bought it. My favorite app, tho, is the Wolfgang Puck app, which made me a fantastic steak and lobster dinner last night.
But I think I'm getting the most cred for the RPN Calculator app. It's definitely the best way to make your engineering cohorts go "Ooooooo."
And, Dad, yes, the thing can even make a phone call. I just wish I could have gotten it in lime green...
This iphone thing is probably the coolest gadget I have ever used:
I downloaded the Laundry app, which when I run it, not only does my laundry, but also separates the darks from the whites from the colors. Yesterday, I grabbed the Maid app, which has this funny character that reminds me of Rosie from the Jetsons, but she left my shower as clean as the day I bought it. My favorite app, tho, is the Wolfgang Puck app, which made me a fantastic steak and lobster dinner last night.
But I think I'm getting the most cred for the RPN Calculator app. It's definitely the best way to make your engineering cohorts go "Ooooooo."
And, Dad, yes, the thing can even make a phone call. I just wish I could have gotten it in lime green...
08 October 2008
Randomness I miss
Rainy days seem to make some memories return. I happened upon some old old rusty and dust-covered writing I had done from back in the day when I was much more hippie and much more hopelessly romantic. But time helps fade that away.
I miss summer evenings on a hammock. Laughing til I cry at late night television. Walking aroung campus soaked in warm rain. I kinda even miss feeling blissfully ignorant of what the real world's all about.
But back to reality. It's fun to think about what is and what could have been.
I miss summer evenings on a hammock. Laughing til I cry at late night television. Walking aroung campus soaked in warm rain. I kinda even miss feeling blissfully ignorant of what the real world's all about.
But back to reality. It's fun to think about what is and what could have been.
01 October 2008
30 September 2008
photos n MPs
Digital cameras have always used megapixels as a primary statistic for marketing. It's been a good one. It's a simple number that represents how many million pixels can be recorded per photograph. But as MPs get higher and higher, their change in value decreases.
So I put together this chart to show how much height of a printed photograph (300 dpi) you'd get per megapixel for a 4:3 ratio image:
When cameras used to sell with lower MPs (2-5 MP), the difference was significant. Nowadays, the difference is more constant per increase in MP.
Here's another, showing a photograph's height per MP. Keep in mind that you can double these heights (150 dpi) and still have a very good photograph.
I wanted to put these charts out here 1) because I was playing with Google's spreadsheet charts, and 2) to show that the average camera nowadays (I'll go out on a limb and guess it's around 7 MP) is more than enough to print big photos. Additionally, I'd like to further discount MPs' marketing privileges by pointing out that as MPs increase in cameras, the lenses are more or less staying the same: small and compact. Just because you're throwing more MPs behind the lens doesn't mean the lens is letting in better light.
So I put together this chart to show how much height of a printed photograph (300 dpi) you'd get per megapixel for a 4:3 ratio image:
When cameras used to sell with lower MPs (2-5 MP), the difference was significant. Nowadays, the difference is more constant per increase in MP.
Here's another, showing a photograph's height per MP. Keep in mind that you can double these heights (150 dpi) and still have a very good photograph.
I wanted to put these charts out here 1) because I was playing with Google's spreadsheet charts, and 2) to show that the average camera nowadays (I'll go out on a limb and guess it's around 7 MP) is more than enough to print big photos. Additionally, I'd like to further discount MPs' marketing privileges by pointing out that as MPs increase in cameras, the lenses are more or less staying the same: small and compact. Just because you're throwing more MPs behind the lens doesn't mean the lens is letting in better light.
25 September 2008
gd
Dear Rockbox, take a graphic design lesson from Apple. Your new looks are fun, but you can't read shit.
I downloaded this a few weeks ago and was plenty skeptical: Cooliris. It's surprisingly simple and feeds me lots of images and videos with minimal clicking and intuitive scrolling. Oh, and it looks cool, which is always a nice bonus.
A new laptop came my way a few weeks ago, and it's been treating me well. I'll probably do a mini review of it when I get a chance and want to record my thoughts in that department.
Anyone have any news on 32gb iPhones?
I downloaded this a few weeks ago and was plenty skeptical: Cooliris. It's surprisingly simple and feeds me lots of images and videos with minimal clicking and intuitive scrolling. Oh, and it looks cool, which is always a nice bonus.
A new laptop came my way a few weeks ago, and it's been treating me well. I'll probably do a mini review of it when I get a chance and want to record my thoughts in that department.
Anyone have any news on 32gb iPhones?
26 August 2008
internet speed
Maybe I'm missing something, but shouldn't these numbers be the other way around if I'm at home?
21 August 2008
A Few Good Architects
This came thru the email forwards...
Few Good Architects
One Act Play
Cast:
Architect: Tom Cruise
Engineer: Jack Nicholson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Engineer: You want answers?
Architect: I think I'm entitled to them.
Engineer: You want answers?!
Architect: I want the truth!
Engineer: You can't HANDLE the truth son; we live in a world that has beams, columns, and lintels. And those components have to be located in walls. Who's gonna design them? You? You, Mr. Architect? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.
You weep for lost parking spaces and you curse the size of my truss girder. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that those structural systems, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties; you want me on that design team. You need me on that design team. We use words like design, code, and analysis. We use these words as the backbone to a life spent providing owner comfort, safety, and efficiency. You use 'em as a punch-line at a party.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain my design to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very environment that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said 'thank you' and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a Risa-3d and design a building system. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!
Architect: Did you oversize the columns on the east wall?
Engineer (quietly): I did the job you hired me to do.
Architect: Did you oversize columns on the east wall?!!
Engineer: You're damn right I did!
Few Good Architects
One Act Play
Cast:
Architect: Tom Cruise
Engineer: Jack Nicholson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Engineer: You want answers?
Architect: I think I'm entitled to them.
Engineer: You want answers?!
Architect: I want the truth!
Engineer: You can't HANDLE the truth son; we live in a world that has beams, columns, and lintels. And those components have to be located in walls. Who's gonna design them? You? You, Mr. Architect? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.
You weep for lost parking spaces and you curse the size of my truss girder. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that those structural systems, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties; you want me on that design team. You need me on that design team. We use words like design, code, and analysis. We use these words as the backbone to a life spent providing owner comfort, safety, and efficiency. You use 'em as a punch-line at a party.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain my design to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very environment that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said 'thank you' and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a Risa-3d and design a building system. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!
Architect: Did you oversize the columns on the east wall?
Engineer (quietly): I did the job you hired me to do.
Architect: Did you oversize columns on the east wall?!!
Engineer: You're damn right I did!
12 August 2008
flash: bezier curve point
A bit of actionscript to interpolate a point at location 0<=i<=1 along a bezier curve defined by an array of control points, cPoints, of Points (from the flash.geom package):
Flash probably has this sort of function built in, but oh well, it's done =)
function getBezierPoint(cPoints:Array, i:Number):Point {
if (cPoints.length > 2) {
var subCPoints:Array = new Array();
for (var j:Number = 0; j < cPoints.length - 1; j++) {
subCPoints.push(Point.interpolate(cPoints[j], cPoints[j+1], 1-i));
}
return getBezierPoint(subCPoints, i);
} else {
return Point.interpolate(cPoints[0], cPoints[1], 1-i);
}
}
Flash probably has this sort of function built in, but oh well, it's done =)
04 August 2008
Lolla's Over
Before I crash for the night, I wanted to share one of my favorite moments of the weekend:
01 August 2008
Lollapalooza 2008
Lolla is happening. My legs haven't felt this kind of exhaustion in ages.
Here's a set of Lolla pics I'll update over the weekend:
Adam's Lolla 08, or as a feed.
My immediate reactions:
- Holy Fuck rocks
- The Enemy (UK) has some good potential (super young band)
- Gogol Bordello is as amazing live as recorded (come on! punk gypsy!)
- Bloc Party was a bit underwhelming (I saw them a while ago at the Congress, and that show was fantastic).
- Radiohead... well, it's Radiohead. With fireworks (I'll link this later).
- Oh, and CSS is as bizarre as expected.
Here's a set of Lolla pics I'll update over the weekend:
Adam's Lolla 08, or as a feed.
My immediate reactions:
- Holy Fuck rocks
- The Enemy (UK) has some good potential (super young band)
- Gogol Bordello is as amazing live as recorded (come on! punk gypsy!)
- Bloc Party was a bit underwhelming (I saw them a while ago at the Congress, and that show was fantastic).
- Radiohead... well, it's Radiohead. With fireworks (I'll link this later).
- Oh, and CSS is as bizarre as expected.
26 July 2008
check in
Since I'm sitting on my ass in a coffeehouse, waiting for a conference call to commence, I thought I'd share a few random links:
gorgeous photos of fighting wildfires
shadow typography: awesome idea!
And George, frozen in carbonite... hm.
gorgeous photos of fighting wildfires
shadow typography: awesome idea!
And George, frozen in carbonite... hm.
17 June 2008
spore creature creator
It's been years since I first read about Spore. I downloaded a few videos of the game in action. I saw Will Wright talk about the new game and how he saw it to be revolutionary. It was enough to excite the geek in me.The game is to be released this fall (September 7th, to be exact), but today the demo version of the creature creator is available for free download. Clive Thompson for Wired has a nice little hats-off to the game. I'll have to wait until tonight to try it out. Work comes first... heh.
I'm fascinated by parametric modeling, music, texturing... anything really. And that's what this game employs (yes, even the music is at least somewhat parametrically generated).
For now, we just get to play with a very limited set of tools for the creatures.
05 June 2008
canstruction
I spent about 5 hours last night with coworkers and friends constructing a giant version of a Hungry Hungry Hippo made out of canned food. This is part of Canstruction, a national food charity by architects, engineers, and others in the building industry.
Links to pics over there -->
Links to pics over there -->
04 June 2008
gang keynote
So Jeanne Gang gave the keynote speech at UofI's latest architecture graduation. Of course, I'm no longer at the school, but I read the speech here.
I can't help but feel that students at their graduation, ready for their first jobs, don't need more people giving them misty-eyed interpretations of the field of architecture. Yet, that's what Ms. Gang does. However, I agree with her highlights of architecture education as a producer of multifaceted people.
My friend, an architect and graduate of the UofI added these comments:
[Architecture] is a practice (at least in America and to a lesser extent in Asia) that is dominated by the money driven developers... very few of us get to work on projects that are not. ...Architects will become saviors of our built environment once the greater population finally realizes just how important architecture is to our physiological well-being, and our built and ecological environments, and force the developers of this world to adjust to what the architects believe is right as opposed to what the dollar says is right... but in our culture of consumerism, common sense is way ahead of architecture at this point...
Architecture is truly under-appreciated in America. I hope someday that may turn around. Until then, I'll sit on the engineering side of the coin.
16 May 2008
dreams of being a writer/producer
So, I finally (about a year and half later) gathered a bunch of tracks of mine. Feel free to download: yeah you 2007.
13 May 2008
flickr, java, ruby... [geek]
So I was inspired (thanks, Ben) the other day by this snake. So I dug a bit deeper to find the original Processing java environment, and was immediately reminded of all the visualization intentions I had had a long time ago. Forward ahead a Sunday and two movies later (Hitman and Children of Men) and I had implemented a midi library to read signals from Ableton Live and my xboard, then display those visually thru Processing.
Today I managed to get a Ruby script to read my latest flickr post. This ruby wrapper for the flickr api is very simple to use, albeit far from complete. So now, combining the amazing powers of ruby and processing, I have a stupid li'l setup that gets live feeds from my flickr which get visualized and can be messed with in real time using midi signals from my controller and ableton live.
Next up: getting my wiimote hooked up to this mess. It's been a fun week.
Today I managed to get a Ruby script to read my latest flickr post. This ruby wrapper for the flickr api is very simple to use, albeit far from complete. So now, combining the amazing powers of ruby and processing, I have a stupid li'l setup that gets live feeds from my flickr which get visualized and can be messed with in real time using midi signals from my controller and ableton live.
Next up: getting my wiimote hooked up to this mess. It's been a fun week.
04 May 2008
cubs memories
Thursday I said, "goodbye, work," slept in, and met a few friends at Lucky's to begin a day of baseball + beer. Considering the beer was either Miller Lite or PBR, that wasn't exactly the highlight of the day. The best part, though, was sitting three rows behind home plate - close enough to smell the grass. The Cubbies lost, unfortunately, but with enough pretzel/cheese/beer/nachos/beer/cheese in me, I didn't mind all that much.Check out a few photos of the day, if you so please!
22 April 2008
bsg n such
So I never bothered to watch the 'recap' of BSG until tonight. It's actually pretty funny and worth watching if you're up to date with the show, or don't mind 100% spoilerage.
21 April 2008
seismic-world
Maybe I'm still on a kick from the earthquake last week, but I came across this at work, and thought it might be worth preserving here =) I've switched projects at work, and I'm now tackling a very irregular 550m tall tower in Dubai. I guess I wanted challenging projects out of school, and here I've been handed them. Ask and ye shall receive?
My good friend works for (marketing?) this film, The Secret. I'm not 100% sold on it yet, but it's great food for thought for a happier life, nevertheless. Appreciate more what I have, and focus on what makes me happy. Seems simple, but it's easy to lose focus and awareness.
Summer is fast approaching -- I need to find something... fitting to do. I'm not sure what that is yet.
My good friend works for (marketing?) this film, The Secret. I'm not 100% sold on it yet, but it's great food for thought for a happier life, nevertheless. Appreciate more what I have, and focus on what makes me happy. Seems simple, but it's easy to lose focus and awareness.
Summer is fast approaching -- I need to find something... fitting to do. I'm not sure what that is yet.
15 March 2008
Vegas Trip
I returned from my Vegas trip on Tuesday. I returned with more money in my pocket than I started with, so that's a good sign! The weather was fantastic, the drinks were aplenty, the food was delicious, the casinos were opulent, and everyone had a good time. Couldn't have asked for much more.
05 March 2008
architecture
I think thin mints are the only food I can eat without realizing I'm eating them. Half a box gone? Don't ask me where it went, but I do have this chocolaty residue on my fingers...
Nick emailed me this pic this morning -> Hilarious!
And in other architecture news, this compilation of UAE projects is worth the eyecandy. I'm probably violating a few hundred copyrights by posting this, but oh well.
28 February 2008
Ski Trip: Breckenridge
I spent a few days last weekend in Colorado, mostly in Breckenridge, skiing the slopes and feeling some massive burn in the quads.
Feel free to click that image over there, and you can see a slideshow of all the pics I took. I'll try to add my comments and titles in the next few days, but knowing me that'll likely not happen. (Movies might end up on youtube... I haven't decided due to the, er, 'nature' of the flicks.)
I realized today that Flickr added web-editing of images via Picnik. This is pretty sweet... I can do all the red-eye fixing and cropping and auto-leveling without having to re-upload manually.
20 February 2008
New camera!
If I could have used the camera to have taken the video of itself, I would have. This gave me the task of figuring out uploading videos to youtube. Whoopee.
I've been thinking about and researching point-n-shoot cameras, and gave serious thought to a Sony Ericsson k850i, but the price on that bugger pushed me away. So I decided to wait for another day to get the uber phone/mp3/camera gadget, and instead I purchased a Canon SD1000.
It's little and has 95% of what I wanted from a pocket camera. (The other 5%: image stabilization, a bigger LCD, and better manual controls.)
Newegg shipped me the camera in 17.5 hours, and now I'm ready to take photos of friends, snowy mountains, ski lodges, and who knows what else!
15 February 2008
you suck at photoshop
I've been watching these, and I have to suggest these if you 1) have a twisted sense of humor, or 2) have a twisted sense of humor and use photoshop.
You Suck at Photoshop
12 February 2008
the gamer in me
It must be the week for gaming because it seems to be swallowing me whole. After checking and calling numerous electronics retailers, trying to locate a damned Wii to buy, it was my mother that suggested I check Sears. At first it seemed like a silly idea, but a mother knows best, and she also knows Sears is not thought of as an electronics place. Anyways, long story short, they had Wiis stashed in the back, and my Saturday night and Sunday disappeared, leaving my eyes aching from staring at the screen too long.
I've never been a huge fan of the Mario games, but Mario Galaxy is awesome so far. Last night I got sucked into the latest installment of the Metroid Prime series, which, again, is awesome. I think that these would be great games alone, but with the wii's new controls, they become something even more fun and enjoyable.
And then to top it off, Maxis and EA finally announced a release date for Spore: 7 September 2008.
30 January 2008
central market update
The construction's coming along swiftly. I look at a shot of the site like this and wonder how the hell the construction teams keep everything in order.
In the upper right corner is the residential tower: foundation complete, concrete testing in progress (I hope the poured the right stuff!!!), and the bottom two parking levels pretty much finished.
We're racing to get the remaining construction documents for the tower out by Friday. I'm currently working on the penthouse levels, which are about the 85th story. I think it'll be a while before they get that high up!
In the upper right corner is the residential tower: foundation complete, concrete testing in progress (I hope the poured the right stuff!!!), and the bottom two parking levels pretty much finished.
We're racing to get the remaining construction documents for the tower out by Friday. I'm currently working on the penthouse levels, which are about the 85th story. I think it'll be a while before they get that high up!
29 January 2008
14 January 2008
finally, two screens
I've been itching to get two screens at work for at least the past year. It finally happened today, as well as pumping me up to 4 gigs of ram.
I guess what might be more interesting is that this is my view at work, more or less. Note the assorted items of necessity: moleskine notebook (with grids), fancy new fountain pen, aluminum scale, phone, calculator, wallet, headphones. Heh.
Time for Monday workday to end. Ciao.
I guess what might be more interesting is that this is my view at work, more or less. Note the assorted items of necessity: moleskine notebook (with grids), fancy new fountain pen, aluminum scale, phone, calculator, wallet, headphones. Heh.
Time for Monday workday to end. Ciao.
02 January 2008
happy new year n all
Happy 2008, everybody! It was Monday night that I was reflecting on the absurdity of the world using the change of a number as an excuse to get blitzed. Then I drank some more.
Today has been the mother Monday of all Wednesdays. It took about 8 hours and too many cups of coffee to wake up, 2 hours to figure out where I left work before the holidays, and a solid 2 minutes at the gym to remember how long it's been since I touched a weight.
I'm thankful this is a three-day week.
I'd also like to thank these folks for helping me set up this music search thingy. Enjoy!
Today has been the mother Monday of all Wednesdays. It took about 8 hours and too many cups of coffee to wake up, 2 hours to figure out where I left work before the holidays, and a solid 2 minutes at the gym to remember how long it's been since I touched a weight.
I'm thankful this is a three-day week.
I'd also like to thank these folks for helping me set up this music search thingy. Enjoy!
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