Happy New Year!
It’s 2010. I think this year will be a good one. My resolution is to apply to grad schools.
Posted in Life (other than code)Thanksgiving in the Adirondacks
At Beaver Meadow Falls
Today (Thanksgiving day) Lena and I walked 9 miles. It was super pretty and nice although a bit cold and gray. I’m putting up a few pictures here just so I can brag more easily to other people about it. I will post more later; including video and GPS tracking data. (yes I’m a giant nerd)
Us at the half way point and lunch time
Beaver Meadow Falls
Posted in Life (other than code)
Userfriendly is suddenly quite serious
So one of the web comics I read is suddenly really serious. It’s usually a very flipant and humorous, but it is current doing a story arc about, of all things, cancer. It really surprised me. I actually like it. It’s well written and feels heartfelt. Also it’s not nearly as tech/geek oriented as the comic usually is.
If you want to look at it you can start here: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20091021
The first few strips after this point are cancer humor with I like because it’s really black, but then it just gets serious.
Posted in Humor, Life (other than code)Firefly rocks
Firefly is a truely awesome show. I’m watching through it with some friends. Good people. Good content to watch. Chocolate fondue.
It was a good evening.
Posted in Life (other than code)Sex and the Holy Land: Finally over
The Fringe show I was in (“Sex and the Holy Land”) is finally over. I’m glad I did it but it kinda dragged on. I’m proud of the work I did though. I wrote a sound cue playback system for it and it ran well for the entire run including when I wasn’t there and the stage manager was running the show (very well I would like to say. Yay, Michelle!!). Also the benches worked very well and were very well liked.
The benches (and Melanie Zoey Weinstein (Lili), Zack Imbrogno (Eyal))
Anyway, I’ve moved on to other things. I’m teching for Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind starting next week. That should be fun.
Posted in Life (other than code)“Sex and the Holy Land”: a FRINGE show
The FRINGE show I have been working on is finally moving towards completion. It’s been quite a ride, but I feel like I’ve done well. However the show overall has not got the greatest reviews and I wouldn’t agrue at all. It feels like a college student directed show.
However the one review that I have read (from nytheatre.com) said good things about the set and never mentioned the lights and sound, which means I did well. I cannot take the whole credit because the director designed the forms that that benches where set-up in. But I’m fairly proud of the benches. They have held up very well to all the abuse.
Posted in Life (other than code), UncategorizedReal Rain
NYC got some real rain today. Not the weak crap is usually gets. Real pouring drenching rain. It makes me happy and a bit home sick. KS gets this kind of rain much more often.
Posted in Life (other than code), UncategorizedBuilding Benches
I just built nine 6-foot benches in 2 days. And I am very tired. I’m not very good at that sort of thing. They are for “Sex and the Holy Land” (a fringe show I am involved with). The bench design was like this:
The design was pretty good and I build 9 of them:
And made a mess:
Now I’m going to rest. But I’m proud of the benches.
Posted in Life (other than code)Security Theater in NYC
So I was stopped for a bag check in the subway again (second time in 5 years, so it’s not exactly common). And it really is a farce. They ask you to open the main pocket of the bag and then they look in. That’s all. It only takes maybe 15 seconds which is nice. But really!! Do they actually think they will ever see anything?!
If someone really wanted to get something illegal (or, say, something explosive) on to the subway all they would need to do is put legitimate stuff on top of it in there bag (Like a text book). They don’t really check anything. Interestingly, they don’t even touch your bag. They ask you to open it for them. It an obvious case of “Security Theater”.
That being said I’m kinda glad really. I didn’t really feel like my privacy was invaded and if it makes other people feel safer in the subway maybe it’s a good thing (Other people have talked about his). Though it is a system ripe for abuse. It would be very easy for cops to start doing real checks but only on people who have been profiled to be “dangerous” (say young black men and middle-easter looking folks). And that would be a really big problem and really despicable. I have heard people say this is already happening to some extent and I don’t doubt it, but I have not seen it my self and I’ve been to lazy to do any research.
Posted in Life (other than code)Riverside Park, Manhattan, NY
I went on a little bike ride in Riverside Park. I saw some things I find interesting.
- There was a group of people lined up as if to have there picture taken. Behind them was the ugliest piece of road and cement retaining wall I have ever seen. They could have walked 100 yards and stood in front of trees instead for the picture. Maybe it’s a city thing.
- There were several of kids with motorized scooters and bikes. Why?! The kids have plenty of energy for peddling.