spaceJASE blog

It rained last night and...

2009-09-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

and this guy was hanging out under the potting soil. His eyes are so big and completely black. I think he must have been blinded by the camera flash.

I love these little creatures.

The weekend already...

2009-08-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

The week went so fast! I'm drinking coffee on Saturday wondering where the week went.
A couple meetings with coworkers, a couple tech demos for clients, a day trip to LA for a screening, up to SF for meetings... sometimes the week drags by, but not this past week. Good stuff.

Now - relaxing. :P

gold LEGO minifig score!

2009-07-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Went to the LEGO store today.
Spent too much $$ and got this as a prize:
My only complaint is that the hands are peach colored. Why couldn't they have made them gold? It's a simple paint over job - if you bend the legs at all the peach plastic is revealed. Still - I appreciate the novelty of it and that it was free. Thanks LEGO!

hot hot hot

2009-05-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

Got in the car yesterday and it told us it was 111 degrees. SHEESH.
No wonder people hang out at the mall so much! The LEGO store has nothing to taunt me with. I should have bought those air conditioners from Chris...
Global warming is alive and well here in the Bay Area. Oh and smog allergies as well.
*HACK*

Stuff you're not supposed to know.

2009-03-20T08:17:00.001-07:00

How is it when you find out stuff that you're NOT supposed to know - it weighs so heavily on you?

Stuff I'd rather just forget keeps rolling around in my head. It makes me feel pissed off sometimes, and uncaring other times.

You know - when you find out some politician did something crazy... you get weirded out.

But that's not what's on my mind... and I'm not telling so don't ask.

Friday the 13th

2009-03-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today is once again... MY DAY! I love Friday the 13th. I somehow feel lucky while so many others cower with superstition. Be afraid all ye worrisome people. Be very afraid. :)

Uncle again!!! ...and... AGAIN!!!

2008-11-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

Tuesday last week while everyone was out voting, Maria and Greg had their twins Harlow & Lyla. They sure are cute! Yet again I have the chance to build on the "crazy uncle" or "cool uncle" status. I'm sure it will eventually turn into "wacky uncle from freaks-ville". We shall see how things develop.

Uncle time(s) 2!!!

2008-11-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Check her out: "Anna Elizabeth Sharlow" is getting printed - not for committing her first felony, but for being tracked along her life long journey as a human.

I meant to post about this earlier, but I'm an uncle AGAIN.
My other sister Carrie had a baby in October.
Congrats Brad & Carrie!

Now I get to be the "cool" uncle twice over! (Soon to be four times! More on that as the situation develops!)

Chip!

2008-09-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

"Chip" could be short for:
Chipper
Chipotle
Chippy
Chocolate Chip

We're not sure, but Chip is the newest Harlow family member. He's pretty cute and a ball of crazy. Yesterday I found him IN the fireplace behind the screen. He was covered in soot so we bathed him with a warm wet washcloth. He laid there and purred. I think he felt like his Momma was cleaning him. He's 6 months old.

Michael Thomas is on good terms with him, but Maddi has yet to let him get close without growling. She's very territorial it seems.

Vancouver, BC, Canada

2008-08-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Our next stop was Vancouver, Canada. The drive up was relatively uneventful, passed right through Seattle. Check out my pics here on Flickr.

Vancouver has an awesome backdrop of mountains to the north but the city itself is like Superman's crystal fortress. The city is a densely packed pile of glass skyscrapers. During the day it was kind of ugly, but when dusk came and people started turning on their lights, the city seemed to come alive and glow.

If you're ever in Vancouver, there's a section of Hastings street between Chinatown and Gastown you should avoid. AJ and I walked through that area once while exploring and it was overloaded with the homeless. From a distance it looked crowded and busy, like something was going on or many tourists were gathered. However, when we got closer we realized it was 100% bums. Not begging for change bums; Standing around trying to find another fix bums. Luckily they couldn't be concerned with passersby so we made it through the gauntlet without issue. I'd just stay away from there next time, though. Chris Degnan also recommended we stay away from that area... though after the fact. :)

Speaking of Chris Degnan, we hadn't seen him in about 5 years. It was really good to catch up and although we only were able to have lunch together, (Gorilla Foods - AWESOME) it was like old times, just chatting abotu everything under the sun. 'Deggy' also took us on a quick tour of the Relic office where he works. It's on the 15th floor of one of those glass skyscrapers. Pretty awesome view from there!

On our first day in Vancouver we walked all around downtown and then some totalling about 12 miles. Our feet were pretty beat! The next day we drove to other neighborhoods like West Van and Commercial St. Commercial street was Vancouver's Haight/Ashbury. Lots of hippie wanna-bes and many places for us to eat! We got all kinds of vegan desserts that we took with us for the drive home. The cool thing about Canada is all the hemp you could find in the food and everyday prodects. Hemp is great for protein and omega 3. It also is super strong and makes great bags and clothes.

Overall Vancouver was pretty cool, but we liked Portland better. :)

Downtown Portland

2008-08-23T12:17:00.001-07:00

Next on our trip we stopped in Portland, Oregon. (pictures on Flickr HERE)

We were really pleased with the number of vegan/vegetarian restaurants we could choose from. It had, quite possibly, more than the bay area! We had a hard time choosing where to eat, but decided to try Veganopolis (a vegan buffet); Blossoming Lotus (a branch of the place we found in Kauai, Hawaii); and Voodoo Doughnuts (an alternative doughnut shop that makes vegan doughnuts)!

The downtown area is relatively small and we spent a whole day walking around, eating and snapping pictures. The architecture is quite interesting and there were tons of people walking around.

The evening we arrived in Portland we went looking for the vegan mall we had heard of. It wasn't really a mall per se, but a building where the 4 occupying shops are all vegan focused. (grocery store, clothing store, bakery and a tattoo shop) When we asked if there was a place nearby to eat vegan, the clerk at the grocery store recommended Red & Black, a vegan cafe around the corner. We went there and got perhaps the best tempeh reuben sandwich I've ever had. While we were waiting for the sandwich to be made, there was a short presentation/video shown of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). (<--Wikipedia link) I had never taken an interest in the ELF before, so it was interesting to learn more about them. They are kind of extreme in my mind and I would never take on their methods of getting their message out, but I can see where they are coming from. I think they feel helpless in our country/political landscape and are lashing out in a... less than legal manner. Anyways, it was interesting to learn about the organization by happenstance of waiting for a meal. I think I'll stay away from ELF.

Crater Lake National Park - longest coast ever.

2008-08-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

The next day of our trip we cut across California and Oregon and stopped at Crater Lake National Park. It's amazing.

A huge mountain just blew it's top about 7,500 years ago and when it settled, formed this gigantic crater. It's nearly impossible to get down to the lake, so it is pristine and unspoiled by humans. The water is the clearest in the world and it's just about the largest and deepest lake in the world. It has no incoming or outgoing water, but the level remains about the same year round from rain and snow melt. Check out my photos on my Flickr site.

On the way there and back the forests had astounding numbers of orange butterflies swarming the road. I tried to capture a movie of it, but they are so small and move so fast that the video doesn't really show how many there were. However, this picture of our car can attest to the amount... and the Prius is one of the most aerodynamic cars made to date. Other cars and semi trucks literally had orange colored grills and hoods. One little guy flew away when we stopped at this rest area - he had been trapped in the grill.

One more interesting thing about Crater Lake - from highway 5, it is pretty much a gradual uphill climb to the lake. Our mileage getting there was a sad, sad 41 mpg. We took the south entrance in and the north entrance out. Our mileage got back up to 53 on the way out, though! It was pretty much full on coasting all the way down - about 85 miles to get back to highway 5. Not the longest pure coast time, but definitely the longest assisted coast.

(I LOVE to see how far we can coast - it's like a little driving game. It started in NY when we were always going hiking in the Adirondacks. The longest was only 3 miles. Then I found a 5 mile coast in Shenandoah National Park. The longest pure coast time is 7 miles down in Arizona near my sister Maria. But Crater Lake takes the cake as the longest assisted coast ever. At about 85 miles, I don't think that can be beat.)

Redwood national park

2008-08-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

We got back from our week long drive up north on Monday 08/18/08. The first place we went to was Redwood national park. It was pretty amazing. We've been to Big Basin park near home, but the trees in Redwood were insane!

I posted a bunch of pictures from the two hikes we went on. Check them out on my Flickr site. I really liked the sun cutting through the trees in the morning of our second hike. Really inspiring.

08.08.08

2008-08-08T23:56:00.001-07:00

It comes once in, what, like a century? Awesome. I thought of Kerri Sox. Her favorite number is 8. It must have been a very lucky/happy day for her.

Happy triple 08!!!

Oh and the Olympics started today! Awesome!

Amelia Chu

2008-07-17T08:57:00.001-07:00

Amelia Chu is now 1 month old and the Chus had a gathering in her honor. She's super cute and quite pleasant. We thought they were going to name her "Savannah" which we thought would be so pretty, but it's a fairly common Porn Star name... (#38 in popularity) which turned them off.

The Chus also showed off their new iPhones (Black & White) which Shun picked up that morning. Bryan was a riot - showing off his moves and being crazy in general. We had a good time talking to Fiona & Chi Hoi and also Chu's cousin. It's always fun to get together with that crowd.

Little Red Ferrari

2008-07-17T08:49:00.001-07:00

Sometimes Mike drives "The Red Car" in to work and we go get bubble tea - usually when he's planning a weekend trip and wants to warm the engine up. It's a really nice looking car. (I don't think I've seen a car that has nicer flow to it's lines. But I'm not all that in to cars.) It sounds awesome and rides great. You know how when you take a corner too fast and the car leans and you lean and stuff? Doesn't happen in this car. When Mike whips through the gears fast and you feel your face pulling off to the sides from the speed, it's really hard not to smile uncontrollably and start to laugh.There's no back seat because the engine needs a bit of room... They were nice enough to make the back end glass so everyone can ogle the engine. Even though it's body is ostentatious it still needs the occasional "ooh" & "ahh" over the engine to keep up it's self-esteem.

July 4th

2008-07-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

We went down to the park near the amphitheater in Mountain View for the 4th. They had a full orchestra playing Disney music and then set off fireworks at the end. They wouldn't let us on top of the hill overlooking the amphitheater because it's all dried out and is a fire hazard so we had to stay in the park near Google and loo over the hill.

You can see how not having a tripod makes for wobbly prolonged exposures. :)

This one looks like a Muppet to me.

Chihuly exhibit @ DeYoung

2008-06-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we went with Kaan to the DeYoung museum to see the opening of the Chihuly exhibit. It was free that weekend and Kaan had the foresight to go early and get tickets. I have never seen glass worked in the way Chihuly does. It was amazing. I especially liked the way the exhibit was mostly black walls with lighting that cast excellent shadows and color patterns from the glass.

I posted a bunch of pictures here on my Flickr page.

Chris & Nancey get married! (FINALLY!)

2008-06-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

Two friends of ours from SCAD finally got married last weekend. (June 7th) We were so excited when we heard the news. I worked a several projects in school with Chris & Nancey and wondered when they were going to get together - they moved SO slowly though and didn't really tell people what was going on... or not going on... or whatever. :) After we left SCAD, Chris & Nancey used to come up to our place in NY every year for New Year's Eve. We would drink wine and talk all night long.

We made a weekend out of the wedding and drove down to L.A.. We met Jim & Terra Kuroda for breakfast and then drove up Sunset Drive until Hollywood. We found an AWESOME vegan restaurant across from "Zombie Tattoos", saw Hollywood and Melrose and a couple other things.

The wedding was really nice. Chris wanted a bit of Jewish tradition in the ceremony and it was a first for us so we found it very interesting. We met a bunch of people from SONY and DD and a lot of their family as well. Everyone was really nice and friendly.

I've got a few pictures here on my Flickr page.

Schwartz Visit (May 30)

2008-06-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

At the end of May, the Schwartz's came to visit us for a couple days. These are my host parents from when I was an exchange student to Germany... TWENTY YEARS AGO. We don't keep in touch too much; you know, holidays and stuff, but when we go to Europe we stop in for a few days.

They happened to be over here touring the west coast a couple weeks ago. AJ and I showed them our neck of the woods and drove them around SF and took them out to lunch on Saturday and Sunday. (Well, Karl always insists on paying.) They only stayed two nights and then took off to drive down highway 1 to see the coast of California all the way down to San Diego.

Did I mention that they are 72!?!?! I can only HOPE that I am as active as them when I'm twice my age now. It was fun to be able to "host" them for once. :)

More pictures here on Flickr.

Jack MUNNY & Drinks for Kaan

2008-05-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

I made this Jack Skellington MUNNY for Kaan - I gave it to him last night for his birthday. You can see more pics of it on my Flickr page.

We went to Greens Restaurant for dinner and Pearl's Jazz Club for drinks and music. A bit on the expensive side for the evening, but well worth it. Fun all around!

I'm a Pikachu

2008-05-13T20:22:00.001-07:00

Nintendo has some questions that lead to you being a Pokemon. I have unfortunately never played a Pokemon game... ever. But it looks like Nintendo thinks I have the personality type of it's most popular Pokemon.

PIKA!

GTA4 Special Edition

2008-05-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

I went to Best Buy after my dentist appointment on Tuesday last week to see if they had any copies of GTA4. They happened to have 4 copies of the Special Edition, so I bought that - I figured, I have a gift card (Thanks Dad!) so why not get that one? Here are a couple pics of the unboxing:

Inside the box was a lockbox. All gun metal.
Inside the lockbox was the game (of course) , an art book, a music CD, a Rockstar branded dufflebag, a Rockstar branded keychain, and keys for the lockbox.Worth the extra $20? I don't know, but it's kinda cool! I liked seeing the geometry they used for Times Square in the art book - It's quite similar to the way we created Times Square for Multiverse.

Oh and it's a phenomenal looking game. I have never played a GTA before so I can't compare the gameplay or graphics, but I think this game sets a new bar on visuals for the 360 & PS3. AWESOME.

Uncle JASE

2008-04-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

Eden Grace Nagle - born 04/24/08
I'm an Uncle!
Congrats Tim & Michelle!

Home grown Fennel

2008-04-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

One thing I thought would be interesting to try and grow is fennel. I was surprised at how well it grew in this lousy soil. Here's a picture of me with one of the larger bulbs. The best part is - I leave the stump in the ground after cutting the bulb off and 6 or 8 more fennel bulbs spring up around it. Crazy! I don't have to replant it! Hopefully it will live through the summer - it's quite sensitive to the heat. It grew like mad through the cool winter.

Maddi's checking out the birds from "shotgun position".