24 January 2009

Dorkbot meeting

Last night, Bethany and Silas went to dinner before the Dorkbot PGH meeting with Maya, Ryder, and me. It's pretty obnoxious, but I love the Patagonia full body fleece Silas is wearing.

The Dorkbot meetings are sort of a salon where presenters come and speak about their work or projects that loosely relate to electronics and generally art, but not always. They are held all over the world. It's a nice federation of geeks. In Pittsburgh, it's held at the Brillobox, which is a bar/restaurant that serves vegetarian food and great beers (see above photo). Their second floor has a small bar and is a good space for group meetings like this or for bands to play. For instance, I'm hoping to go see Tapes 'n Tapes there in February.

In any case, the speaker this month was Chico MacMurtie, director of and vision guy behind Amorphic Robotic Works, which is a collective of engineers and artists that dream up and build mechatronic sculptural pieces. His lecture was interesting, but being the vision guy and not the engineer, he spoke mostly from the perspective of intent and process and physical solutions and not very much about the electronics nor controls. Below is a picture of him presenting a piece he was commissioned by Citroen to do in Paris. It was a transformer type of piece where a Citroen-looking vehicle changed form into a large totem type of structure that filled the gallery space to something like 60 feet tall. It was called Totemobile.

The second half of his talk focused on his more recent efforts at inflatable robots and structures. He has some interesting projects in the works. He and the crew still have some work to get things to where he wants them to be, but it's interesting so far.

22 January 2009

Salt and draftstopping

In general, our sidewalks at work are more dangerous due to the piles of salt than any snow or ice that may or could possibly accumulate. The driveway in the picture above has not been salted for a couple of days and has been pulverized pretty well by the cars. However, the sidewalk continues to be pretty treacherous.

I picked up some bread at Pennsylvania Macaroni Company today. Dave and I were admiring their draftstopping measures on their exit door. They've filled some of the gap with tape, then used fender washers and screws to attach a strip of clear hard plastic to the door on the right of the picture in order to block the airflow. Pretty crafty.

Evening commute (from November)


In looking through my post list, I found an old post for which I had uploaded pictures, but never wrote text and published. Evidently, I had a nice evening ride home from work...


21 January 2009

Eetazeeb



so powerfool!

Silas is fond of his zebra.

Pearls Before Swine is one of my favorite comics. I think Silas's sympathies might lie with the crocks...

The image below is from, I think, the first exposure we have to Eaatazeeb Corporation. You can read the comic here.

2008 bike mileage


I finally got around to tallying the miles on the bike last year.

1,843 miles. That's what the GPS says. I did screw up here and there forgetting to start the watch or forgetting it altogether, so the actual mileage is slightly higher. The total elapsed time, including stops and whatnot was 158 hours.

Most of the summer would have been pretty consistent mileage, but I had a number of work trip that took me out of town for 3-5 days at a time. It tapered off when Silas was born in August.

Except for a few days at the end of the year and occasionally driving for a part work day on my way to the airport for a work trip, I commuted by bike to/from work every possible day of the year. I'm guessing it works out to about 200 to 225 work days at 5.5 miles per day. So, I feel good about offsetting over 1,000 miles of car commuting with the bike.

20 January 2009

Silas and the guitar

Every night, almost, I give Bethany and break and hang with Silas for some time. Usually we read and play. Most nights we also make the bed up like a campfire and sing songs and fiddle around on the guitar. A few times I really think he was trying to sing with me. I love that I get to spend this time with him.

Tonight, he was pretty grumpy and didn't want to sit around. I put the guitar down on the bed and was playing with him. Bethany started folding clothes at the far end of the bed, and Silas decided today he'd figure this whole guitar thing out. I'm not sure how soon he'll be able to play, but it was fun watching him touch all the parts, give it a bite test, and then faceplant on the neck of the guitar when he slipped. When I play, it's really sweet how he'll stare at my eyes and mouth for a while, then he'll watch my right hand strum and pluck at the strings, and then watch my left hand on the neck of the guitar, all big eyed and taking in all in. It's fascinating to watch him. Maybe I'll set up the tripod sometime at take a video (sound turned off, of course!). In the meantime, here are a few pictures from him checking it out on his own.

19 January 2009

Intentional attention

I'm hoping to soon write a piece about how I think the blogging this past year has helped me and what I've learned from it. However, in the meantime, here is an article I ran into this morning that captures some of the essence of what I plan to write about. It's about intentional attention.

This is a topic Bethany and I have discussed a lot. I spend lots and lots of time thinking about this. I think it also ties into her constant assertion that I expect too much from everyday people I come across, as I have difficulty remembering that most folks don't do this.

In any case, I strongly believe there is value to be found in almost everything, every situation, and every person. All it takes is some paying attention and active consideration. While I dislike the 'god' language, I feel this is very similar to finding the world or god in a grain of sand vis-a-vis William Blake and Paulo Coehlo. Perhaps also Leibniz's Monadentheorie. I also think this ties in well with the concept of mindfulness from Buddhist and other philosophies.

Dustin Wax writes about intentional attention in his post on the Stepcase Lifehack blog. He discusses several cases where students, artists, photographers, and writers prepare themselves to accept new information and ideas.
As a general rule, if you don’t intend to find value, you’re more likely than not to miss it. While it’s no guarantee, if you intend to discover value, you’ll find it – or at least greatly up your chances.
-Dustin Wax, Stepcase Lifehack

I think this is also important in creating the environment for authentic interactions with people.

I need to get back to work. I may expand or refine this later.

17 January 2009

Moving forward

I've read all sorts of great lists of resolutions. I've read lots of banal and trite and inauthentic resolutions. Who knows how many of those folks are actually going to make something happen.

I am resolved to make a change. I don't think a list of actions, goals, outcomes, or things to be attained is a meaningful route to change. What resonates with me is something more akin to a guiding principle or a prime directive. Something that shapes a worldview.

My friend, e, over at like bookends had a nice post about how she's moving into this new year. I think she does it right by stating a resolution or intention that can be used in all aspects of her life. Then she goes and gives some examples.
so, from here on out, i intend to keep my heart open.
-e, like bookends
This is a way to live. This is a way for her to interpret the world around her and shape her reactions. This is much more positive and actionable than "I will go to the gym more."

As for me. I'm continually on a quest for such things. I'm not sure I have come up with something I can write down that is simple and concise. Ockham's razor at work here. I think that the open heart intention is likely enough of a directive. However, in my case, I also need to take control of many aspects of my life. I have let too much slide into autopilot. I recognize this, despite not being able to articulate it effectively.

I just finished a book that presented itself to me at a very appropriate time: the Alchemist. It's a story about a Spanish shepherd boy who journey's to find and complete his "personal legend" or goal in life. Along the way, he runs across all sorts of good people who have abandoned their search because of various reasons. These are the things that are pitfalls for us all. It's a good book, and I strongly recommend it. It told me little I hadn't already considered, but it reframed the concepts and encapsulated them in a heartwarming story. The important thing is that it reminded me that I've been at one of these places where people divert from their path to happiness for the past couple of years. That message has made it to my consciousness from several different sources during this time. This past year was my acceptance of that and the reopening of my heart to the world. I'm using that as I move forward.

Goodbye transition year

When I was half asleep this morning, drifting about trying to decide if I was going to get out of bed or not, the narrative for this post was so clear and powerful in my head. However, now it's just a ghost that I feel like I saw out of the corner of my eye. It could really have just been some ruse of my mind to bolster its ego in a Walter Mitty bit of dealing with its own ineffectiveness.

I'm just going to keep going without a real plan because I really think writing like this requires writing and not planning. I've done the thinking. It's what I do. But doing doesn't always get done.

That's been the crux and important takeaway for me from 2008. I know the year end/start and resolutions are the consequences of an arbitrary construct based on our sentimentality for numbers. However, I'm a huge fan of thinking and reflection, so I'm all for what's effectively a national holiday for introspection.

Back to 2008 and its crux. I think the most growth I've had this past year has been the wretched position I was put into at work. Instead of most of my time going toward learning and practicing my technical capabilities in the new fields I'm working in, 80% of my headspace at work this past year has been dealing with the ineffectiveness, lack of planning, and other neuroses of my work group and, of course, myself. I has been a worthwhile endeavor, despite the grief and conflict it has brought up.

What I find interesting from this is that in my workplace, doing is valued more than thinking and the thinking never gets done. A quick, poor outcome is looked at better in management's eyes than a well thought out, concerted effort that takes longer. This has been of the utmost frustration to me and took me way too long to figure out how not to be adversely affected. I will no longer spend my time thinking and planning for those above and around me. I got nowhere with enablement. I was subjected to a very negative review by our CTO because it wasn't obvious to him because I worked with teammembers on an one-on-one basis and did not take nor was given credit. So, here we go. Now, they have to deal with me calling them on their shit as I focus on what I need to get my work done with integrity.

I find it crazy annoying that this has been the cloud under which I've labored this year. This year was a wonderful trip in so many other ways. Silas having come into Bethany's and my life has been the most beautiful thing ever. I'm touched and affected in so many ways that I cannot begin to discuss them here.

At the center of every gallaxy, I think, is a black hole. Or at least that's what I sort of remember from a paper I read this past year. If that's true, we live out our entire lives falling into one. Slowly, but unstoppably. I have been using a black hole analogy this year for the birth of my son. The disappointing part is that it seems most people take it as a negative. Maybe that's my fault for trying to reappropriate the general association of black holes with something akin to negative fatalism and/or nihilism. I don't see it that way, and I don't think my tone, body language, and words convey a negative impressing. Nonetheless, I watch person after person react like I'm saying I miss my old life. Bethany tells me I expect too much of the general populace. I don't know. In any case, I'm on this side of the event horizon now, and the physics of life have all changed. I can't get back to the other side, and I don't want to. Being a dad suits me well.