August 2003 Archives

Took a great picture of Matthew that captures both his expressive nature and his near constant motion.

I built a computer desk today. My hands are so tender and red. It's obvious I type for a living. Also it's a 10 foot desk on a 9 foot, 8 inch wall. Measure twice cut once. I'll be happier once I have carefully routed all my wires out of sight.

Elise!!!

The main party will be Sunday at lake Vermillion, but today is my little girl's second birthday.

For years I have been aware of people souping up or modifying computers, cars and other items for reasons of performance. What I didn't know until today is that there is a flashlight modding crowd. The spend their time taking flashlights apart and sprucing them up with different batteries and led lights with homemade circuits. Check out some of the links.

• flashlightreviews
• inretech
• whitelight.com
• superbrightleds.com
• odd one's led info
• candlepower forums

The sad thing is now I want to do this to.

I can't believe the circus of the governor's race/ in CA. There are so many candidates.

It seems extraordinary that the CA constitution has such a poorly thought out recall process. The frightening thing is that the Arnold is looking like the candidate to beat at this point. Having lived through Jesse Ventura's reign in Minnesota, I wouldn't look forward to the celebrity guv in CA. It seemed like a good idea initially. I mean Jesse put MN in the limelight. He was a plain spoken person and refreshingly non-political. Then the reality set in complete with a thin skinned treatment of the press, idiotic comments, dumb book deals and side jobs, etc..

Saw two movies over the weekend.

Open Range, starring Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, and Annette Bening. It was an o.k. western. (I should have dragged my wife along as she owes me either a submarine or a western after draggin me to "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days".) I give two stars out of four. It was predictable, but had some interesting scenery. I think Duvall made a fabulous grizzled cowboy. Not nearly his best work. Not nearly as good as "The Apostle." On the realism front, people ran out of bullets several times!

The Whale Rider. This was an arty coming of age movie, with a dollop of native people girl power. I thought it was a good movie. It was slow at times, but had a great message and a engaging story. Not every movie should be like Whale Rider, but some of them should. Does anyone know how to pronounce Maori? Three out of four stars. I wouldn't hesistate to suggest this movie to anyone who likes a good story and a thoughtful movie.

Check out this blog where Ms. Powell is attempting to cook all the recipes in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck. This is fascinating to me. I never picked up a cook book and said to myself, "I think I'll cook every recipe in this book." That would be an interesting challenge. See nytimes for more.

Actvist John Gilmore has made some very interesting points lately about how we are all "suspects" in the global "War on Terror." I have been thinking about this lately, and I think that this kind of paranoia is going to lead to some real changes in societal behaviour.

While I wouldn't go do crazy things like John Gilmore, I still admire folks who take risks to ensure our freedoms, millionaire dilletante or not.

I am about to hit the point of diminishing returns. I love working late at night, no telephone calls no one stopping by to chat, just me and the keyboard.

Everyone who likes scrabble should try this online scrabble. No applet to d/l just pure html love.

Now regular readers will note that I saw the Grateful Dead. I am fascinated by their audience. While I enjoyed the show I still can't put my finger on what seperates this band from so many others. I d/l'ed some mp3's from concerts before Jerry Garcia died. (that's legit, the band give permission to tape at concerts and to share the results, electronically or on tape/cd etc..) Those concerts seemed a lot like what I heard. Interesting, good music, but I still wouldn't sell all I have to follow them. Some of their followers are very committed. The Dead web page has a link so that people can subscribe to the "official" recording of every concert this year, each concert on three discs. Unfortunately, it's too late to sign up as they have already gotten 500 subscribers. You would have to be super hard core to do this. I mean 3 cd's for 30 or so concerts. Holy Cow, that's a lot of music. Yet they already have 500 people signed up. Check out what Rolling Stone said recently.

On a different topic, I am going to Mountain View (aka the Mother Ship) the week of September 22nd. I am trying to work in some hiking in Yosemite while I am out there. I am thinking of spending one night in Yosemite Valley proper, then 2-3 nights in Hetch Hetchy hiking. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Thought you had heard the last word on high tech jobs moving out of the states ... think again. Primate Programming

This was a really fun concert. My high school friend Jim Kleczka used to go to see The Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. He described at as something that really should be seen. He was right.

What Did I think?

I thought the sound was great. I was a little dissapointed that Dylan's set was relatively short. However, when he sat in with The Dead, they rocked the house, including a rousing rendition of Johnny B. Goode. The Dead were a lot of fun. I was expecting more banter, but it was mostly just pure music. Althought I really liked it, I confess I never sat through such a long drum solo before. it must have been forty-five minutes.

The crowd was a lot of fun. Everyone was very friendly.

Good Business plan

• Selling "munchies at Dead concerts

Bad Business plan

• Selling tye-dyed sturdy bras at Dead Concerts

I would go again, but I wouldn't sell everything I own, get a Volkswagon van and tour with them. I wonder how different they were with Garcia? I overhear people in the crowd grousing periodically that the magic was gone. I can't say what that magic might have been. It seemed magical to me.

A couple of these photos seem dark on my monitor at work, I'll try and tweak them a bit later tonight.

I have one extra Bob Dylan/Dead ticket for Sunday. Who wants to come with? It should be a fine day for hippie watching.

Seeing a DoLorean, on the way to work the morning, seems like an auspicious sign. You don't see too many out on the road anymore. I can't believe how they still seem modern twenty years after they were originally designed and produced.

As a child of the 80's I find I occasionally wish I could drive a Delorean, wear a swatch, and read Bloom County.