Words Fail Me

(Read the title aloud, then consider the cover art. Aren't there people whose job it is to catch these things?)

The Team

We woke up yesterday morning to the sound of screaming. Possibilities raced through my mind. Political protest? Horrible car accident? The rapture? I stumbled into the living room and laid out on the floor (my back has been killing me since I literally spent five hour crammed in a closet-sized space,hunched over a fried DLP light engine, with two other techies) and waited for Mandy. She came into the room and gave me a few stretching suggestions while the tone and ferocity of the screaming rose a few decibels. As I stretched my horribly out-of-shape body, Mandy looked out the window and yelled, "It's a race! There are supporters on the corners cheering the runners on!" I groaned and got up to look out the window at all of the runners. There they were, hundreds of racers plowing through the cool October drizzle, cheering and having, what seemed to be, a good time.

Later, as breakfast was prepared, the conversation kept coming around to running and wanting to get back in shape again (mostly me). And not some flabby shape, a nice, taut, visually pleasing shape. An idea is starting to form. It's very nebulous right now, but I hope it will coalesce into something concrete by, oh, around next May.

So, here's the idea. We're looking for feedback, ideas, and participants. Please comment, email, or call.

We'd like to get a group of people interesting in running (not walking) the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids May '08. We want to create a team name, t-shirts, running support, playlist ideas, etc. The trick to doing this is to get other people interested and training. The other thing Mandy and I need is a liaison in Grand Rapids, or at least closer than an 18 hour drive, who can coordinate efforts there. Let us know soon.

If I'm going to run, anyone can do it. A couple years back I went from not being able to to run a mile, to running two 5Ks with respectable times. We have six months to get prepared. If that's enough time for people to recover from massive back injuries, it should be enough for us. We need ideas for a team name, t-shirt designs, playlist ideas, where and how to hold the necessary after race gathering, etc.

The sooner we get started the better prepared we will be. We still plan on being back in GR around Thanksgiving time, and hopefully we can plan an hour or two to meet with those of you who would like to join in on the fun!

Science - Visualizing the 10th Dimension

I haven't posted anything science-related to the blog in a while and when I happened across this nifty little animation on VideoSift I thought I would change that. This is a cool, 10-minute video demonstrating a way of thinking of higher-order dimensions. It really reminds me of Edwin Abbott's classic "Flatland" 1884 novella. Flatland is a little book (you sometimes see it in the checkout line at Barnes and Nobel) that describes dimensions via the perspectives of little people living only in one dimension or another. Here's a link to the electronic version of the book, so you don't have to spend the $15.00 Barnes and Nobel wants you to pay for a book that is in the public domain.


via videosift.com

Sailing in Maine - Photo Collection Online

After much delay, Mandy and I have finally gotten around to sorting the pictures from our sailing trip in Maine. We've uploaded them to our Flickr stream and have made them available at the links below. These images are released under a creative commons license, so you may do what you wish with the images, so long as you credit us and don't sell them without asking either of us.

Enjoy!

The main photo collection can be found here: Main Collection
Sailing and boating photos can be found here: Sailing
Pictures of people can be found here: People
Images of landscapes we traversed can be found here: Landscapes
And images that don't really fit into a particular category can be found here: Miscellaneous

Enjoy!

Convoy Part 2: The Drive

Note: This is the now months-overdue second part of the story of us moving all of belongings out to Denver. If you'd like to read the earlier installment, you can find the prologue here and part one here. You can also search and read old entries by using the left hand navigation table to search the archive.

Saturday, June 23rd
Hamilton, OH
7:00AM (EST)

Awake now. Not happy about this. Awake and unhappy. Must move. Cats. Cats biting face. Biting. Biting.

Saturday, June 23rd
I-275, about 30 miles west of Hamilton, OH
8:30AM (EST)

Slowly coming to. Casey helped* us attach the car the carrier and we're underway. The keys have been dropped off at the Shadow Creek lease office and we're slowly making our way down I-275 towards Indianapolis. And by slowly making our way, I mean not moving very fast down the road. The Suck's highest speed seems to be somewhere between "Sucks" and "Slam-My-Fist-Through-The-Windshield Slow." It seems to be topping out at around 60MPH... downhill.

[*Read: Did everything]

Saturday, June 23rd
I-275, about 31 miles west of Hamilton, OH
8:31AM (EST)

An identical 27-foot U-Haul pulling a similar-sized car just passed easily going 70mph. It must be this truck. Man, I sure hope we don't get passed like that again.

Saturday, June 23rd
I-275, about 32 miles west of Hamilton, OH
8:32AM (EST)

We just got passed like that again.

Saturday, June 23rd
Harrison, OH (Exit 1 - I-74)
9:20AM (EST)

Stopped off to eat at a Cracker Barrel. We're both exhausted, but now happily filled with carbs of all shapes and sizes. I also procured a much-needed cup of coffee. With caffeine surging through my veins I will be able to put another hundred or so miles behind us. I never appreciated the "Trucks, RVs, and Campers" welcome sign on the Cracker Barrel lot until today. The Suck is massive and a bear to maneuver in and out of parking lots, so the big lot at Cracker Barrel was a nice thing to find.

Saturday, June 23rd
West of Indianapolis, IN (I-70)
10:10AM (EST)

Just discovered The Suck wasn't fully gassed up before we left. We've only gone a hundred or so miles and had to put gas in it. Since it wasn't full the last time, we can't gauge the gas milage yet, but it's not looking good. Not so much.

Saturday, June 23rd
Somewhere in IL (I-70)
12:10PM (CST)

Refilled. Gas mileage so far: 5/mpg. Yes. We are able to drive 5 miles for every $3.20 of gas we pump. It costs aprox. $150 to fill the tank. At 5mpg, the gas alone should cost somewhere around $900. That woke me up.

Saturday, June 23rd
Somewhere in Missouri (I-70)
3:10PM (CST)

An alarm just went off on the dashboard of The Suck. It read "Check Guages!" and made an annoying beeping sound that is played through the car stereo speakers. We checked the gauges and everything looked fine. It went away about 30 seconds after it started. Odd.

Saturday, June 23rd
Somewhere in Kansas (I-70)
5:10PM (CST)

I picked up a flier on some hotels throughout the West. One of the places looked pretty good, so I called and reserved a room for around $50/night. The nice thing is it has easy access to the highway, a large parking (in which to stow The Suck), and free internet. So, I will write more when we get Laurence, KS. Woot!

Saturday, June 23rd
Lawrence, Kansas (I-70)
7:10PM (CST)

The hotel had a tiny a parking lot. Not a big one. I pulled the truck in, found out that it was too small to actually turn The Suck around without backing up, tried backing up, failed, tried again and again. Luckily this dude came whipping into the parking lot and walked up to the cab saying, "Hey! I used to be a truck-driver. Need some help." "Yes. Yes we do."

He had the thing turned around in about 5 minutes. It was amazing to watch. He did it with about 10 inch clearances on every corner of the truck / car.

We went into the hotel and found it's the wrong hotel. The conversation went like this.

"Having some trouble with that truck, eh?"
"Yeah, you noticed?"
"Yeah."
"Ok. We have a reservastion under Fox."
"No."
"No?"
"No."
"No you don't have a reservation or no my last name is not Fox?"
"No reservation."
"I just called here and reserved it."
"Do you have a reservation number?"
"No, I was in a giant, rattling, stinking truck with no pen. I didn't write it down."
"Sorry, no reservation."
"Ok..." I pull out the ad and show it to him, "This is your hotel, right?"
"Yeah."
"Ok..."
"It's our hotel, but the number is wrong."
"It's wrong?"
"Yes."
"Who's number is it then?"
"I have no idea."

So, I call the number and it turns out to be a different hotel in the town. For some reason, the hotel had changed it's name and telephone number.

Saturday, June 23rd
Lawrence, Kansas (I-70)
10:00PM (CST)

We've finished eating a delivered pizza from Pizza Hut. It was so good. I'm guessing the perception of quality of the food is due more to our being very hungry than any actual objective goodiness of the food. So tired... so we sleep.

Sunday, June 23rd
Denver, CO

We've arrived! Several things have happened, but I'm so late in returning to this post that I've forgotten most it. It mostly involved driving, filling up the gas tank over and over, and various warning lights blinking on and off on the dash. In couple years, I'll probably get around to writing the unpacking story. Oh! Doesn't that sound like fun? Reading an endless blog post about people unpacking. Man oh man! We do know how to keep our reader's interest here and DropMyStraw.

Epilogue: We arrived safely. Nothing was damaged in transit. We even successfully talked U-Haul into refunding nearly several hundred dollars due to all of our inconveniences. In retrospect, I'm still glad we decided to do it the way we did. Moving all of our belongs across the country makes for a much better story than it does actually experiencing it. If end up moving back to GR, I'm not sure how we will accomplish the task. I think we'll either sell everything we own and just drive home in our car, or we'll bite the bullet and let one of those crazy moving companies move us.

Our lease is up in December of '07, so it looks like we'll be moving somewhere here in the city. We just can't get enough of it, apparently.

How incredibly infruriating....

(Image Source: Modernhumorist.com)

If you haven't heard, a 32 year old woman from Minnesota was found guilty of illegally file-sharing 24 songs. The jury decided that each song was worth $9,250! So, she must pay $222,000. I think that her lawyer sucked! He took the stance that she did not do it, which was proven by her MAC and IP addresses, password protected PC, and email addresses over the years using the nickname that she used on KaZaA. One side note, I hate KaZaA, but I digress.

What really pisses me off about this is the music industry once again bullying people of who OWN songs and how we take away money from the artists when we copy and share. Um no, not so. It seems that they must forget that the industry usually gets anywhere from 70-90% of the profits...are we still bitching about the artist not getting any money. Also, how can you own the bits in my computer and then charge me over $9000 per song.

Richard Gabriel, a lawyer and spokesperson for the recording industry, was quoted as saying ""This does send a message, I hope, that downloading and distributing our recordings is not okay." Nice gloating on his part. Way to take down a 32 year-old-woman downloading 24 songs, boss! You sure did show her!

Hmmm....that is an interesting thought. This is totally the appropriate time to protest this kind of litigation. Other than not buying from the big record labels what should we do??

[Matt: I thought I'd throw this link into the discussion: A very in depth collection of Wired articles expanding on the trail Mandy is ranting about (not unreasonably, I must add) and all of the details that went into it. My stance on large corporations suing their customers over downloading music that helps them makes money is well documented in the annals (or is it anals?) of DropMyStraw. It really does suck that people like the defendant have to take the wrap (sp?) for the rest of us to wake up and realize how utterly and truly fucked up our copyright, patent, and, for that matter, legal system has become--how desperately we need to take action to reform the creative substructure of our culture. For a totally non-jaded, unbiased, totally objective blog that delves into the very real and troublesome issues of copyright reform, I can't offer a better link than TechDirt.com. Sorry for the interruption.]

Grandma Updates & The UK

Quick Grandma Update: She is doing much better than expected. It turns out the initial diagnosis of heart attack + stroke was a little off. It turns out she had neither. Why she was found unconscious, with a dresser drawer on her back, and a broken hip, we're not exactly sure yet. In any case, and in spite of her broken hip, she's doing better. Tomorrow she goes in to have surgery to pin it all back together. This is a bit risky, due to her age and such, but it has to be done. I will post news as I get it.

(Our temporary office in the UK)

UK: So, yeah, I flew out to the UK for 5+ days. It was a fun yet baffling ordeal. England is a land of many different peoples and geography. In my mental preparation for the trip, I substituted Canada for the UK, so I'd have some idea what to expect. My thinking was: It will be just like America, only slightly, vaguely different. This assumption was incorrect.

My trip was essentially an exercise in learning how the business works, how to deal with the Brits, and whether or not I like them and they like me. At the end of the week, we were both mutually satisfied in the possibilities of a future relationship so they decided to make me a good offer and I decided to accept.

(Me, stuck in the Houston airport due to a delayed Continental flight)

In lieu of writing up a long explanation of my adventures, I have come up with something quick and easily digestible. A top 10 list. But, before I start, here's the obligatory Pulp Fiction quote.

DAY INT. CAR

VINCENT
But, you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?

JULES
What?

VINCENT
It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that they got
here, only there it's a just a little different.

JULES
Example?

TOP TEN LIST

1. Cost

They use pounds sterling as their standard of currency, but they don't readjust for its strength against the US dollar. Right now, the ratio of dollars to pounds is about 2:1. That means, if you brought a pound back to the states and converted it into American dollars, you'd get $2. Their pound is worth two of our dollars. However, everything still costs the same in pounds. In short; it is so friggen expensive.

Example: A t-shirt costs 20 pounds, just like how in the states it would cost $20. Except, the 20 pounds is really worth $40. A coke still costs 1.50, but it's 1.50 in pounds. So, it's really $3 when you convert.

2. No Ice-Machines in the Hotels

I thought my hotel had an ice-machine. It didn't. I asked several coworkers if this is odd. Their response was, "Ice Machine? As in... a machine made out of ice or a machine that makes ice?" To which I would respond, "I'll take that as a no."

3. No Clock in the Hotel Room

Same as above, except dealing with clocks and the lack thereof. No clocks in hotel rooms. That made my getting adjusted to the time change all the more strange confounding.

"'Ello, front desk!"
"Yeah, can I get a wake up call in one hour."
"In one hour, did you say?"
"Yes. I want to take a nap, but you don't have any clocks in your rooms."
"Ah yes! One hour it is. G'bye!"

4. Trouser-Press

While the Brits have no problems with their hotels having neither clocks nor ice-machines, they do find it neccessary to have trouser-presses in each room. This is a machine that lets one iron their pants. This should tell you everything you need to know about England. They don't care so much about arriving places on time, so long as their pants are ironed and ironed well.

5. Driving on the Left Side of the Road

Yes, yes. Americans always say it's strange. They always carry on about how it's bizarre and unnatural. For once, I completely agree with the status quo. It's so strange. Imagine riding on the left side of car, where the steering wheel is on a US car, while the passengers drives you at break-neck speeds down the left lane of a tiny highway. It would be unnerving enough, let alone being ridiculously tired and jet-lagged while it's happening.

6. Tea Not Coffee

It's true.

7. Everything is Old

I ate lunch in a pub that was older than the United States of America.

8. Everyone Manages to be Cheerful and Depressed at the same Time

Pink Floyd calls it, "Quiet Desperation." It's also true. I don't know how they manage to pull it off. It's very disoncerting and funny at the same time.

9. Everyone Swears

Nice old lady at the grocery store trying to using cash register, "Oh fuckin' hell."
Receptionist at the hotel, "There's not much 'round 'ere. You are in the fuckin' hills, aren't you?"

10. No food. Just Beer.

These blokes go out, every night it seems, drink 3-5 pints of really good beer, and go to sleep about 1-2AM. Then they're back at work at 7:30 bright-eyed and ready for work. This may give some insight into how they manage that whole cheerful-yet-depressed thing.

And to wrap up this post, here is a video I meant to post while I was in England, but forgot about it until I got back home. Enjoy!

On the ground

I have made it back from the United Kingdom. I'm still vaguely jet lagged, so I will wait a day or so to write something longer. I'm thinking a quick summary and a list of the most noticeable differences would make good reading. I'm going to be crazy-busy this next week working with some coworkers on the planetarium here, getting my paperwork sorted out, and meeting with some other people from the company later in the week.

Also, my grandma on my dad's side had a heart attack and a stroke this morning, and is in intensive care in Mt. Pleasant in stable condition. I'm doing a lot of phone juggling as I try to coordinate details from Canada, the UK, and Michigan. Alas, this is one of the major drawbacks of living so far away from family: I can't just drive an hour and a half to see her. It's an 18 hour, two day drive or two expensive round-trip tickets just to stop by. My feelings are more frustration than anything else right now. Frustration at not being able to do anything to help and frustration at not being able to be there to show my support.

The only light-hearted thing I have to report, the thing that makes me look forward to the future is that the new Radiohead album has finally been announced. It's called In Rainbows. Here's a link.

Flying Footage!

I am flying back tomorrow, as originally planned. Things have gone very well and everything is looking up. That's about it from here. Hopefully, I will slightly be over my jetlag Sunday and will write up a little more informative post.

Footage from flying!

Not an update, just entertaining....

I'm heading off to dinner with some friends, but before I left I came across the following video and wanted to share it with those of you who have never seen it before....for those of you who have, you know it's all good!!!1!



via videosift.com

10:00 GMT

Ok, so, again here's an apology. There is a trend of me apologizing on this blog before I write silly things. I think I'll stop doing it. This last apology covers all the rest of my bad, tired, grammatically-incorrect writing. Here it comes. Enjoy it.

Sorry.

I have arrived safely in the Old Kingdom. The flight over wasn't too bad. A quick two hour jump from Denver to Houston followed by a not-so-quick nine hour jump from Houston to Gatwick/London. The long flight was mostly uneventful. Some guy did pass out in the left isle and collapse to the floor. He was old and apparently short of breath because down he went and several people came to his aide. The flight attendants revived him with a quick wiff of oxygen. We had just started the three hour flight window over the Atlantic. I kept my eye on the little progress monitor to see if the plane was going to turn around en route and land in Canada or Iceland or something, but we continued on our merry way. We landed on time in Gatwick (6:45AM GMT).

After landing, I was stuck in the passport control line for nearly two hours. Once through, I met up with a dapper taxi-driving bloke who drove me to my hotel. I'll post what my room look like when I get back from work tomorrow and the maid has cleaned everything up.

I went to work today and did pretty good as far as staying awake with the time change. I got a couple demos of the software, worked on some servers, and saw a demo of the new projector a distributor of ours is building. It was absolutely amazing. The odd thing about interacting with these people, is I still get the feeling I'm being interviewed. In a sense, I am. There is a 6-month trial thing we're doing to see if I like the work I'm doing and they like the work I'm doing. It's just strange. Maybe it shouldn't.

That's about it from here. I think I'll post a video update tomorrow. Save me some time on typing.

Peace n' love!

The UK has my man....

It's been less than a day, but I miss Matt. He began his flight to yonder England at 9:30 (MT) and should arrive arrive around 7:00 (GMT).

I spent this evening pining after my love....along with my EMO attitude I was surfing the web, IM-ing, and talking on the phone with my cousin Lyza.

Just before I fell into the depths of despair of either boredom or loneliness, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (of the UN) sent me an email wishing Matt the best of luck with his new job. I'm not even trying to figure out the picture that was attached....that is between the General and Matt.











P.S. I love you Babes!!!1!

And the details keep pouring in...

After posting my nearly impenetrable wall of words yesterday, I will keep this brief.

I have decided to procure a Nintendo DS. From various conversations I've had with people over the past couple of days, I've come to conclusion that a DS is the perfect thing to kill the many, many hours of traveling planned for the next week and thereafter. I'm still deciding on what games to get for it and where to purchase it, but I will be getting it tomorrow.

I have more updates on the impending travel. I will be flying out of DIA Saturday at 11:30AM(MST). I will fly to Houston (2 and 1/2 hours) where I will transfer to the flight that will take me across the Atlantic. I will arrive Sunday morning around 7:00AM (GMT). The flight is 9 hours, but since there's a 6 hour time difference, the clock will show the flight as being 15 hours. It's all very confusing. The nice part is I will have Sunday to relax and decompress from the traveling before I start work Monday--training on the new systems and meeting my new coworkers.

I still don't know where I'll be staying, or whether or not they'll have WiFi access, but I will post as soon as I know.

"I can't stand to fly. I'm not that naive."

This post is going to be all over the place, so I'll post my apology in advance. Here it is. Get ready for it. Sorry. There.

I gots me a job! Or, at least, I think I gots me a job. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been courting a 3D display company for about a month now. The last thing I mentioned about the courtship is that I was going to meet with some of the peeps in New York City. That was last Thursday, and the fruits of that encounter have plopped out of the allegorical tree of design and technical what-have-yous.

Let's start with last Thursday. That's seems as good a place as any to start. So I shall.

(You've already been warned that this would be all over the place--no turning back now)

Due to Mandy's having to work very early on Thursdays (6:15gawdawful-AM), I had to drive myself out to the airport to catch a United flight to the East Coast. I mention this only because there are several reports that find people who are tired are much more likely to cause accidents than drunks. This fits me to a tee. I am barely conscious until around 10:00AM most mornings, and even then it's touch and go. I was up and about at 5:00AM to make my 7:30AM flight (gotta love the TSA).

Alas, I made it to the airport, and found I was able park my car in the garage. This is one of the few luxuries of arriving at the airport hours before the main rush of travelers arrive. I made a mental note of what direction, color, section, and letter my car was parked in (West-Red, 40-D). If you've never been through Denver International, take it from me: The airport is insanely large and insanely confusing. If you don't remember, or write down where you park, it's likely you'll never find your car again.

The flight was about three and a half hours from take-off to landing. It was a straight shot from DIA to Laguardia airport. We were actually about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, but that was eaten up by getting stuck in a holding pattern above NYC for thirty minutes. While it was frustrating to get stuck doing figure-8 2 miles above the ground, I did get to see all of New York. The view is simply incredible. It's amazing that people built that city. It's so ridiculously big. We landed on time.

From there, I hopped a taxi to the Hayden Planetarium. The Hayden is part of the Rose Center, which is, in turn, part of the New York Museum of Natural History. The Hayden is considered by many to be the best planetarium in the world. It formerly ran off a silicon graphics computer called the Onyx2. Well, 7 Onyx2s, one for each piped video signal. The system is now primarily used for astonomical research. Let me run that by you again: A 7-tier super computing complex that is now used to do the science of astronomy was formerly used only to create the display for the dome in the planetarium. It's basically a video card that takes up an entire server room. Here's a picture of the sphere the Onyx system is enclosed in:

(If that doesn't give you geek-wood, I don't know what will.)

The company I was going to meet with is replacing the projection system and the media-server system. At this point, I should tell you I'm not going to mention the name of the company outright. If you're interested, write me. This blog is personal, and my feelings about the company should remain separate.

I met with the owner of the company and one of the head engineers. After meeting, the owner conveniently excused himself to go to a meeting. That left the engineer and me to get lunch and "chat." This is the British equivalent of an interview. We ate at a local lunch joint and chatted about 3D displays, CRT projectors, geometry warping, and all many of super-geeky stuff I won't bore you with.

After the lunch meeting, we headed up and into the Hayden to see a show running on the new projection system they were installing. To say it was eye-popping is an understatement. I can say this from experience. I've worked around dome projectors for years, attended conferences with Chad where we saw the most advanced 3D modeling systems in the world demoed, and have coded for and supported said systems. This knocked all the previous ones I've seen out of the water (or, is it the sky?). More impressive than the system itself is the knowledge that this was being run on conventional CRT Barco projectors. The company has a brand-new projector in the works that has unimaginable black-levels (helps with contrast) and sick-fast response times.

After seeing Cosmic Collisions (narrated by Robert Redford), I and the owner of the company walked up through the empty corridors of the museum to an office buried somewhere within. As we wandered, it slowly dawned on me: This is the museum where "Night at the Museum" was shot. I've never seen the movie, but I could tell from the trailer. I asked our guide and sure enough it was shot there.

The owner and I chatted amiably enough for about an hour and half about the future of the company and whether or not I could deal with the travel the job requires. In the end it was determined I did. He asked me to sleep on it and give him my answer the next day. I had a flight to catch back to Denver, so I had to bid him farewell and head out to the street to get back in time.

Here's the coolest part of the trip: I hailed a taxi in Manhattan. It may seem unimpressive compared to the amazing technology at the Hayden, the prospect of getting a dream-job, and being in NYC, but it was so cool. I walked up to the street, saw a taxi with it's roof-light lit up and held out my hand as if I'd done this a million times before. The taxi pulled up, I hopped in, and said, "LeGuardia, please." I half expected him to say, "You got it, Mac." It was so cool.

The flight home took about 4 hours. It was long, uncomfortable, and occasionally the plane would buck around. This gave me plenty of time to contemplate the traveling-aspect of the job. It's no secret I'm not a fan of flying. I refuse to let my fear of flying dictate actions in my life, so I've never once missed a flight due to being afraid to board. That doesn't seem to make much of a difference when flying at 40,000 feet above the ground, at 500 mph, looking down on the clouds below me. I have this same problem with the bucket rides at Cedar Point. I will ride every ride in the park without hesitating. From the tilt-a-pukes to the PowerTower (a ride that lifts you 400 feet in the air and shoots you down faster than free fall), I have no qualms about riding anything in any amusement park. Except the bucket-rides. It's ride where you slowly float through the air on a cable-line, taking in the sites. My palms get sweaty, my heart races, I go bonkers.

I've often thought about the connection between the two. Upon reflection, two things become pretty obvious. One, when the ride is slow enough for me to gather my wits and actually contemplate how high up I am, how there is no hope for rescue if the cable breaks, and how a good gust of wind could kill me, I freak. The second is, I hate not being in control of the ride/plane. I understand the aerodynamics of a plane, I just finished reading "Beyond Fear" (a fantastic book on the state of security in the US) and know how astronomically low the odds are of a plane crashing. I know all that. I even understand the silliness of knowing that no matter how nervous I am, I will always get on a plane and therefore there is no reason to worry since I will always get on the plane no matter what. None of that knowing seems to help my sense of worry. The only solution I can think of is what's called "Exposure therapy." This is the idea that repeated exposures to something that triggers a phobia will reduce it's effects, and bring the worry in-line with reality. If a person is afraid clowns, a good treatment would be to expose them to clowns over and over until they get over the fear (or kill the clowns). So, I'm self-medicating myself with what will be repeated exposures to commercial air flights. Hopefully, this will reduce anxiety over flying and help me get to the point where I will actually enjoy the flights. Well, as much enjoyment as a 6 foot 4 inch man crammed into economy class seats for ten hours over the Atlantic ocean can have.

There's also the thought that if do go down in a fiery wreck, everyone will know I had a smile on my face and was saying, "I told you so." all the way down.

When the owner called the next day, I told him I was on board. He said he'd get me in touch with my line manager based in Canada and that he would figure out the details of compensation, benefits, etc. That's the holding pattern I've been in since Friday of last week. He and I have been ironing out all the little details that go into a British company hiring their first American employee. It'll all be ironed out by this Friday, but I was tired of waiting, so I posted this early.

I realize I haven't even mentioned what it is I'll be doing. Basically, the company I now work for bids for contracts on anything a high-tech 3D display facility will need to get their job done. The clients range from planetariums (primarily), aircraft simulators, NASA "Reality Rooms", and a few projects I have to get a security clearance to even know about. The company builds, tests, installs, and maintains the 3D projection systems, controllers, media storage systems, and media creation tools used by their clients. The case of planetariums, they also produce content to run on the systems.

My job will be to work on display systems they have installed around the US. This ranges anywhere from a phone call to flying out the facility to work on the physical system. I'll also be doing consulting for media production, this will entail working with the small, but growing, team of content producers in the UK until we establish more of a foothold in the North American region and setup a production shop here. This is a year or two out, but that's where it's headed.

To learn more about the management culture of the company as well as how these crazy-complex display systems actually work, I'm flying out England this Saturday. I'll be gone for a week at their headquarters learning the system and, likely, drinking a pint or two of bitter with my new mates. I've never been to the British Isles. I've been to mainland Europe, but never crossed the English Channel. It's extremely exciting and flustering. I'm trying my best to have internet access at the hotel I'll be staying at, so keep an eye to blog next week, as I'll be posting my experiences and pictures of the area of England I'll be staying.

___

I'm debating buying a Nintendo DS (a small hand held gaming system) to help pass the long hours of flying, driving, and train-riding I have stretching out before me. The problem is, I don't really know what games to get for it. If anyone has one and/or knows of any good games for it, let me know.

That's it for now. My fingers are bleeding from typing. If you've made it this far, good for you. You must be a glutton for punishment. We still haven't posted the pics from our trip to Maine, I know. Hopefully, we'll get to some of that tonight. I've added an RSS feed-reader to the right-hand navigation bar. It shows the last five pictures we've posted to Flickr. So, if you ever wonder what we've posted to the stream, but don't have a Flickr account of your own, you can alwats check there.

I also posted a snazzed-up picture of Mandy and I looking sweet and hipsterish on the right side near the top. Thanks to Dean for the sweet-ass picture I used as the source for it.

Also, this is a nod to my dad who found out about my trip to NYC by reading the blog. That's so cool. It's great that people are reading the stuff we post here. It makes being a thousand miles away from friends and family easier to deal with. Remember: Post comments if you have the time. They always make us smile. Also, comments can be questions. If you want us to post pictures of something or have a question, just post it, and will answer it as quickly as we can.

Almost New Updates

There are updates waiting in the wings, but I am waiting on the small details before I post anything. Life is good here. The weather is great and the city is fun. More to come.

While you wait, here is a wallpaper for your computer desktop. Several people have told us that they've been using our Flickr pictures as their wallpapers. So, instead of forcing you to download and resize (and for those of you who might notbe tech-inclined enough to do it yourself), I have posted a wallpaper at the bottom of this post. Choose the size that best fits your resolution.

(A lighthouse about 100 miles north of Rockland, ME)
1024 x 768
1280 x 1024
1680 x 1050 (wide screen)

"I'm going to blow up the ocean!"

Mandy summarized the arrival nicely. The trip was great. Some days the wind approached gale-force strength, so the sailing was absolutely amazing. We had the Schooner running at near it's maximum speed, if not at it a couple of times.

There were plenty of opportunities for picture-taking, so we ended up with nearly 1,000. I have been working on a client project since returning and haven't had any time to sort through them, remove blemishes, and uploaded. If you're chomping at the bit to see some of the photographs, I would direct you to our friend's Flickr stream where they have posted their own photos. The whole lot, and they're both good photographers, so I would check out the pics if you get a chance.

Canadacow's Flickr Stream

I don't think I'm going to post a full synopsis of the trip. Partially because I'm going to really busy for the next few weeks and partially because I think it would loose something in the blogification. It was great. I would (and will) do it again. I recommend the Steven Taber to anyone who has a good sense of adventure, good food, and a love for the outdoors.

Some quick updates, since we haven't done one of these in while:

Mandy
Classes have started, and she's doing great. She's taking a light load this semester and probably next. This is primarily due to us having to wait a year to establish ourselves as residents of Colorado, thereby cutting the cost of her tution by a third.

She's working at a Doggie Daycare center about a 1/2 mile from our doorstep. She takes care of dogs, hugs dogs, and cleans up the dog's poo. She loves it. Of course, there is no way to avoid getting a dog when we move into our new digs when this lease is up, sometime around December or January.

Me
I've been getting more freelance work through clients around Denver and back in GR. I've been involved with a 48-hour film project, a couple of commercials, and some editing work. The city seems to be a good place for picking up this kind of work. My hope is that all of this small, freelance stuff will provide me with networking opportunities that will lead to a full time job of sorts.

I have been courting with an amazing 3D display company based out of London (the UK one, not the Ontario one). They build displays for research, goverment, and civilian use. I am flying out to NYC on Thursday to meet with the owner and tour the Hayden Planetarium in hopes of securing a job with them. This opportunity is amazingly awesome and I'm trying me best to not get my hopes too terribly high, but damn, it's awesome. At the very least, I will get a free trip to NYC and a tour of simply the most bad-ass planetarium in the world. Hopefully I'll know more on Friday and will be able to share. Keep your finger and toes crossed.

Cats
The cats are doing great. They seem a little plumper since Mandy's parents dropped by, but who can blame them from spoiling them meat byproducts? The cats are so cute!

Where were you while we were getting pie...oh, I mean lobsters

We arrived home safe and sound late Sunday evening after three flights!! Anyhow, I just wanted to write a quick post to say that we are safe and had a great time. Mom and Dad took care of our cats as well as cleaned and decorated our apartment. We should go on vacation more often....

From our trip:


More info and pics from our trip to come~

Captain! Turn around and take me home...

Mandy and I leave for the East Coast tomorrow in the earliest of AMs. Her parents have been visiting this past week, and will stay on when we leave to explore the mountains and feed our cats.

We are flying out step aboard that most excellent sailing vessel, the Steven Taber along with our two good friends Dean and Erin. Looking back on the last two years of blogging, I really haven't written much about the Taber. This surprises me considering how cool it is. The Taber is a schooner that calls Rockland, Maine its home. It sails throughout the summer and has been in continuous service since 1871. It saw action in both world wars and has been both workhorse and pleasure craft. That's what the sailing craft is, but not what it is about.

It's really like a time machine. When I walk the decks, see a whale surfacing for air next to the 100+ year-old railing I am leaning over as we glide through the Atlantic under no other power than the wind in the sails, I can't help but think how it must've been to live long ago. Not that the peole sailing in the 1870's had GPS guidance systems or a well-stocked and managed food galley, bit it's interesting to ponder nonetheless. I don't believe the past is a place we can get in a spaceship and fly to. It is a thing that exists in our minds and as an imprint on the world, but not a place we can visit (unless Einstein is wrong, and that dude is smarter even than Bush!).

The last time I sailed on Taber, Mandy and I had just been married two months prior. It was our long-awaited Honeymoon, and I spent most of the time considering the new path I had started. I was married, happily, but I didn't know what it meant or how it would affect me in the long-run. The trip was a great time to air out cobwebs in my brain get some sense of perspective.

I carried with me a copy of "Quicksilver" by the amazingly talented post cyber-punk author Neil Stephenson. It is the first part of a trilogy of books called The Baroque Cycle that mine the Enlightenment (the period of time around the 1650s-1750s where people like Newton and Leibniz and William of Orange redesigned the way the world works) for essential truths about the world we now inhabit. It is filled with romance, science, intrigue, and plenty of swashbuckling adventure. The book, like the experience of sailing on the Taber, deeply affected me. In many ways, the combined affects of reading Quicksilver while sailing on the Taber changed the way I view the world.

So, now, on the precipice of another trip to meet the Taber and sail her through the Atlantic, I am again at the beginning of a new path. Mandy and I, married still, and happily, are changing our nearly ten year old careers. We've moved across the country to live in the mountains like crazy people and are considering the next big moves in our lives. I have the next volume of The Baroque Cycle, "The Confusion" in hand and am ready to clear out the webs.

We'll be back on the 9th with plenty of pictures and updates. 'Till then, if you need to get in touch with us call and leave a message on our cell phone.

"Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars until I die. "
-Tennyson

Speaking of spare capacitors...

Here's a cool little thing to do with spare capacitors.

I had an old disposible camera and a electro-zapping fly swatter lying around not doing much. I opened the camera and removed the capacitor. I wired said capacitor in-line with bug zapper once I removed the tennis-racket part. I screwed all back together, and looks like this (click on images for bigger versions):

("Say hello to my little friend." -SeaLab 2021)

Then, Mandy took a picture, dragging the shutter. This my little friend discharging on the metal screen in our den. The funny part was, some dude was sitting on the bus bench right outside of it. I wonder what he was thinking.

(First: The metal screen. Next: The cats. j/k)

Blasphemous Balls

According to a BBC article, US forces have dropped soccer balls from helicopters in south-east Afghanistan for children to play with. These are World Cup league soccer balls, used around the world. This, of course, sparked riots. Why? Because everything we do sparks riots, that's why! Everything! We should stop doing things, damn it. My hatred for the war is well documented, but come on. After reading this article, is there any conclusion to reach other than our cultures do not understand each other?

(Balls of Blasphemy)

The BBC cites the reason people are rioting is because the Saudia Arabian flag, along with the flags of many other members of the World Cup, is depicted on the soccer ball and the Saudi Arabian flag contains the Islamic symbol of Allah. This is bad, according to rioters.

Does anyone think we can do any good over there when we so fundamentally misunderstand each other as cultures? When dropping toys, in an effort to build good will, sparks riots, I think even the most die-hard Blind Bush Follower has to give some credence to the fact that we shouldn't be there. I think it's time we wrap up what we're doing (what we're doing, I have no idea, and never did) and take our blasphemous balls back with us.

I also really like the headline, "Blasphemous balls anger Afghans."