A beginning in Portland

I like portland. The last few days have gone well. I’m ready for burning man. And I’m signing a lease on a studio this afternoon. The apartment is about 8 minutes by bike from school so I’m really excited about the commute. I hope winter will not prevent me from biking. I have been walking a LOT. It’s been good.

The apartment isn’t as cheap as I like but it should be very nice I think. Its reasonably large and has good sized windows that open well. Heat, water, garbage, sewage and even electricity are included in a flat rate utility fee. So at least there shouldn’t be any unexpectedly high bills. Also the building would allow me to move to another apartment in the same building for pretty cheap if I want to later. That way I could ungrade if I want to later. We will see. Also the lease is only 6 months so I am not tied down for long.

I’ve met a lot of good people. Half of them being the burning man crowd, but half of them from other things which is good because I don’t want to only know crazy hippy types.

I have not yet had a chance to visit my school. I’ve just been insanely busy. I will go up there once I get back to portland from burning man. I have been by my school though and I’m confident I will be able to get there easily when from my apartment.

People are really nice here and I really need to unlearn some of my NYCisms. They don’t apply here. The bus system is very nice and the street cars and trains are good. It is weird though that the trains actually run down the street.

Portland really is a bit like a huge lawrence, KS. Nice people, polite drivers. I think I will be at home hear quickly.

The flight in also went well. We flew by mount hood. It was beautiful.

Also since I started writing this I have actually signed my lease. So I have a place to live and I’m set to move in. I will still need to spend one night in the hostel when I get back from the burn, but I will move in the next morning. Then I will start working on settling in.

Right now I am in a mexican resturant having a victory lunch. And tomorrow at 3AM I will leave for burning man. I’m excited.

Portland is getting more and more real

I’ve started scheduling my first few days in portland. I’m going to view 5 or 6 apartments on the first day. Hopefully one will be nice and I can rent it then and there. I would love to have a place pinned down ASAP. Then I will go to my school and otherwise get to know portland.
However in addition to that I will be preparing for Burning Man. Then after 6 days in portland I will be heading to the burn for a little over a week. Then I will be coming back to portland and actually moving into the apartment I rented.
I’m really scarred. But I’m also excited and having solid plans makes it feel more comfortable.

I made a whip that cracks

I made a whip!!! And it cracks!!! I’m so excited.

The first whip I made. (Sorry the picture is fuzzy. Phone cameras suck.)

There are a lot of things wrong with it, but it’s my first and I will be able to do better next time around. I already have plans of how to change the design. I need to tweak various things so I can work up to building a kevlar fire whip. I’ll be practicing with nylon for a bit because kevlar is almost 6 times as expensive and you need a LOT to make a whip.

Anyway I’m totally excited about whip making and actually making a whip that cracks is a really exciting first step.

Leaving NYC

I’m on the plane away from NYC. I will probably only be returning to visit (which I will be doing). It is a really weird feeling that the New York part of my life is actually over. I always said that I would not live there indefinitely, only now am I really realizing that that means. I don’t think I will miss the city, but I already miss all the friends I have in New York.
Special people definitely make the place. And it’s the only thing that made living in NYC bareable. The city was always too big and busy for me. So for those of you who love the city, I hope you enjoy it; you are welcome too it. I will enjoy visiting I’m sure.
And to all you special people in NYC: I’ll miss you, but I will be back to visit. Be well! (And as I learned to say in NYC “Get home safe”)

Happy New Year!

It’s 2010. I think this year will be a good one. My resolution is to apply to grad schools.

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

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.

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.

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.

“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.