my blog.

Airports

2009-01-25T16:09:00.005-05:00

I think my niece would like this light installation at Schiphol. The haha's turn on/off seemingly randomly.

DXB is nice and mall-like.

Unfortunately DXB wireless, while free, is very poor. AMS wireless is expensive and strong.

Literally, Literature

2008-12-17T14:55:00.004-05:00

Before going on my last vacation, i meant to write something about another article i'm quoted in. If you read that article, you'll note that i am quoted as having twice repeated a 5-word phrase: "we have this new functionality". This got me wondering, how often do i repeat myself?

After going on my last vacation, i parsed through all my blog postings - all postings back to 2004 - to see how many other 5-word phrases i've repeated, and how often i've repeated them. What follows is a list of all 5 (or more) word phrases i've repeated, and where i've repeated them. Hopefully i will be able to contemplate their ocurrences before repeating myself for another article i'm quoted in.

have i mentioned how nice it is to
why do i keep watching french flicks
to respond in one of two ways
the shot down planes and missiles
what ingredients are used in the
towards the end of the day
just before anyone was around to
if i don't talk too much
had a shell length of
script that prints the last
is my screensaver running at
when i got into work
to catch the 30 minute
if i had my way
of the time that i
i got to move a
and then mention the $10
here is a montage of
walked around town at around
some places a little too
and the phrase you know

Hello

2008-12-09T23:42:00.001-05:00

Today Rex introduced me to the Google Chart API. I said "Hi" and an hour later had this. It's a little buggy, not necessarily 100% accurate and only projects to 2009.

Two steps back

2008-09-23T01:11:00.003-04:00

Not quite CNN, but i am quoted in the Voice, WCC's student newspaper. The article outlines why i didn't sleep much over Labor Day Weekend, a nice way to start off the new semester.

Unfortunately the web version of the article doesn't have the photos that are in the paper version, so here are some poor photographic copies of the paper articles:

Let's keep these copies close to the realm of fair use; here's a critique of the originals.

The first photograph is taken with a wide angle lens, creating the rounded effect with my face and making my fingers look smaller. Note i recognized that i would look like some funhouse mirror effect, hence my uncharacteristic smile. I might suspect that the photographer was trying to caricaturize my hispanic features, but the wide angle was the easiest way for him to get the shot - there isn't much space in front of that rack. The composition is pretty good - on the one hand, my hand draws eyes away from the photograph, but my eyes are more focused and closer to the viewer, bringing the viewer's eyes back to the photograph. Finally, my arm is a good frame for the lower portion of the photo.

The second action shot is an attempt to make the job seem more active than it is (99% of my work is typing and watching text scroll by, not as exciting to shoot). The photographer tries to convey the sleep-deprived nature of the emergency work by shooting at an angle; i try to reinforce this by copying the newspaper slightly bent, curving the bottom portion of the original. Compositionally, the keyboards almost succeed at framing the photograph, but unfortunately it doesn't quite work - instead they appear to be trying to cop a feel.

Both photographs show a young photographer applying basic techniques to create decent enough shots. If he continues to approach his photography with thought and mindfully evaluates his work for simple mistakes, he will eventually make a good photographer.

Edit: one photo has been added to the online story. Additionally, a different photo was added to a separate story about the incident.

On the Nature of the Universe

2008-09-19T16:42:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine said she never saw turtles in Gallup Park, so while going to work over the past few days i've taken photos of turtles i've spotted in order to form a turtle-spotting tutorial.

Sometimes turtles like to sunbathe on a log, looking much like an odd-shaped stump raised off the main trunk, and with a little branch sticking up. Sometimes they float or swim in the river, sticking just their head out and looking like a very shiny broken branch of a submerged trunk. They are a little skittish in the water and are likely to dive if approached; keep your eyes on them as you walk towards them so you can watch them scurry into the water.

The smallest turtle i've seen in Gallup had a shell length of 1.5" (3.8cm), the largest had a shell length of 15" (38cm). I've seen one soft-shelled snout-nosed turtle, but the majority look like what i consider a "standard" turtle. I have yet to see any turtles wielding hammers in Gallup.

The above photograph is a test; the turtle should be fairly easy to spot.

This bird is included because it recently started chillin' by the side of the bike path through Gallup.

Business Continuity

2008-09-08T19:22:00.002-04:00

I'm not yet skilled enough to downshift my right-side shifter with my left hand while talking on the phone and cycling over slick sidewalk. The other party was unaware i took a spill; the phone conversation continued uninterrupted.

Granite

2008-08-10T23:21:00.003-04:00

Rode a train today, saw some pretty rocks stacked on top of each other. It was kinda nice & peaceful.

Masks

2008-07-07T19:08:00.003-04:00

Finally finished finishing (applied a couple layers of Tung oil to protect the wood) the Congolese mask i bought in Uganda last year and placed it next to the mask i bought in Costa Rica this year. On the left is a mahogany fertility mask from the Songa tribe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (possibly this place?). On the right is a Boruca ceremonial mask carved from balsa wood by Gonzalez. The Boruca mask was used in the "Danza de los Diablitos" ceremony which reenacts the European invasion and repression of the natives, and as the ceremony is very physical, the mask is missing a tooth.

More Sights

2008-06-27T23:07:00.002-04:00

Rented a car and drove around the Costa Rican countryside for a few days. If you still think rollercoasters are fun, try driving through Latin American mountains sometime. Narrow bridges, cliffs, washouts, passing around mountain corners - American Mountains don't really compare, though if you find yourself doing an inversion while driving you may be wishing you were safely attached to a track.

Driving also provides the opportunity to stop where i want, and so have been able to take the following typical photos.

Standard volcano/lake scene. That's Arenal Volcano, which is visible from La Fortuna, provided you get there during the daytime, and which, if you ask "what city am i in?" while in Fortuna, you will be pointed out "didn't you see the volcano?", as if a volcano is visible from only one city.

Llanos de Cortes waterfall, just outside of Bagaces but far enough off the road that it is a very tranquil place to visit. It is one of the prettiest waterfalls i've seen.

Standard sunset beach scene, as seen from Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste.

Perspectives

2008-06-26T11:06:00.004-04:00

Rafting down the Pacuare River in Costa Rica, swimming through the calmer parts, canyon walls and waterfalls on either side.

I've seen these scenes a million times from the riverbanks and overviews, never from in the river. It's quite a change of perspective and i enjoy the new take on old views.

It was relatively safe - our guide fell in the river within the first ten minutes but pulled himself back in quick enough, and a Spanish woman almost fell in but held on to the side and we pulled her in just before she was crushed between the raft and a very large boulder. Yup, safe enough for anyone to try.

Former Work

2008-06-22T00:19:00.003-04:00

In front of Ford Field (the large covered structure on the right) is a brick building. That buidling is in Brewery Park - the former location of Stroh's Brewery, where my maternal grandfather worked many years ago. If you care to learn more about Detroit's brewery history, tours are offered.

Correction

2008-06-20T22:16:00.001-04:00

My mother informed me she had a photo of the desk from before we began refinishing it.

Work.

2008-06-17T13:19:00.003-04:00

Spent the last couple weeks refinishing this desk.

My mom stripped the desk then left it for me to stain, shellac, and put back together. In the mean time she painted this room and bought those curtains that i would later hang.

Inspired by the Costa Rican cart we were given a number of years ago, and by the skin colour variance in my family, i stained the wood 3 different colours. I also hand-sanded all the original screws to remove all the nicks and the old yellow stain (unfortunately we do not have a photo of the desk before it was refinished).

All that's missing is a little girl drawing little pictures at this little desk.

Raw

2008-05-03T21:43:00.009-04:00

The way i remember the story, on the way home from the beach, my father spotted some fishermen in a small boat, hauling a shark onto shore. He stopped the car, walked over to them, and, not speaking the language, bargained with them for the shark's jaws.

I doubt that's a 100% accurate rendition.

We've had those jaws in our family ever since that time in Somalia, some 30 years ago, and they remind me of the rawness of overseas living. I now have them at home, and i now also carry a permanent reminder of that rawness.

This weekend also marks the end of my Stats class. I took 80 minutes (out of 240 allowed) to get an 89% on the final exam. I think i finished the class with a low A.

I set out with two criteria for this class: watch none of the dvd lectures (it's an online class - all lectures are provided on a set of 6 dvds), and no use of the special features of the fancy calculator that was marked as a requirement for each homework, quiz and test. I even managed to go the first couple weeks without using any calculator, after which i grew tired of long division (not to mention square roots) and started using perl for nothing more complex than sqrt().

Now that i'm done with the class, i plan on watching the dvd lectures; maybe the material will start to make sense.

Taking closeups of one's own arm (these 3 are full frame) is a little tedious and best not done in a hurry; pardon the imperfections.

Changes

2008-04-29T21:49:00.002-04:00

While many folks attended graduation on the Diag, a few blocks away the old Ann Arbor YMCA was being demolished. I watched it for hours. The right side of the building was hanging precariously over the road just prior to this photo. Despite this danger, the hoseman sprayed on.

Trash Talkin'

2008-04-26T08:58:00.003-04:00

That bandage cost me $150. Dawn, the woman who put it on me, was very nice and i recommend her bandaging to anyone. Hopefully she will one day be able to travel to Rome and see the original cause of the wound she was bandaging.

Recreational Waste

2008-04-14T01:14:00.003-04:00

This weekend i bought myself some time by giving away the best book i'd begun reading in months - i'm quite certain he will get more out of the book than i would have as i barely know my nouns from pronouns, let alone transitives from intransitives.

Not wanting to study statistics, i spent Saturday revisiting an old concept - a class project from 1997, a program that parsed WCC's web-format class schedule (1997 auto-generated html, shudder), prompted a user for the desired classes, and finally figured what sections of those classes fit together time-wise. It took 3 of us 6 weeks to finish this final project and during that time i was continually up from about 10pm to 4am writing C++, much to the chagrin (i'd like to think amazement) of my girlfriend. This time it took me a day to implement most of it in perl.

So what do i have to show for 11 years? New and improved (and faster) ways to waste time.

Sounds

2008-04-09T04:11:00.004-04:00

Walking home at 4am, hearing the wind whisper through the old Y.

Names

2008-04-04T20:59:00.003-04:00

Walked the same path to work that i've biked for years, but this time i noticed the bridge's plaque. On the southeast abutment of US 23 over Huron is the bridge's dedication plaque. It is 100' away from the path through Gallup Park and there is no path closer to it - yes, placed in a non-prominent position, away from all pedestrian traffic, only to be seen if someone on 23 happens to blow a tire by that spot, walk over to the side of the bridge to take a leak, and happen to look up at the plaque on the abutment. Some 1000 years from now a future archaeologist might uncover this plaque and place our road comissioner's name among the likes of MAGRIPPA, but for now, park-goers will not know those names.

Keeping it Real

2008-04-01T22:29:00.001-04:00

The wind fought me to a standstill at times, but i decided today was not the day i'd give in to mere nature. It wasn't really gusting that bad - on the way back, the wind warned me with sound before bumping me around. Had i been looking up i'd have seen the gusts first, then heard, then felt. And if my body were more finely attuned to gravity, perhaps i'd have instantly felt the change before even seeing it, but only if that one smart guy was wrong.

Travel Plans

2008-02-27T19:12:00.002-05:00

In Italy, and all i can think about is how much i'd rather be in Mexico or Zambia. Still, Rome is a nice enough place.

Shame

2008-02-06T01:59:00.001-05:00

I used to write VRML, one character at a time, but that was many years ago. Now, it seems state of the art for 3d product display has turned to pre-rendering 100's of images and displaying them via flash. Unfortunately, not all webapps act kindly when simultaneously serving 100's of small images.

I wish i could render our scenes in VRML - i really do - especially considering the lack of complexity of the scenes in question. But i'm also willing to attempt the "new style", and towards that end i've created this moveable view of a recognizer (only tested in Firefox 2/Mac and IE7/win). It's a Proof-of-Concept consisting of 3 files: the html, the css, the image. Here's a scaled-down view of the entire image i'm using:

That image is composed of 612 rendered views of a povray file that i made a couple years back, in anticipation of a compsec shirt i never printed. The PoC concept is rather simple - reposition the one large image based on what button the user clicks. With a little bit of work, it can translate to clicking and dragging the image, working better around the poles, and maintaining consistent speed.

I'd like to deliver my PoC in Flash, as that's what the original target was set for, but i'm not really sure how to begin creating a flash file - that magick is beyond my current capabilities. For now, i'm happliy disgraced by my PoC. Oh, whatever happened to the wonderful world that VRML promised?

Yes, i wear Matterhorns

2008-02-05T02:16:00.001-05:00

The knock is quiet at first, but quickly grows louder, more urgent. An old friend is at the door, and wishes to come in.

At first she doesn't look so familiar - new haircut, new outfit, new pose - but after a couple blinks, i remember who she is. Let's sit down, reacquaint ourselves, catch up, where've you been? I missed you! Slowly, we'll regain depth into each other.

----

The math was a bit tricky at first, a lot of second guessing myself, but eventually i knew i was on the right path once i had distracted myself enough to programatically draw the above image (yes, the dissolve is deliberate). Perhaps if i had had the discipline to make it through college, then the math would have flown naturally from my fingers, and calculating the x's and y's would have been as easy as drooling. Instead, it took me a day.

But slowly, tenuously, carefully, i've started my way back to thinking in 3d. Eventually i hope to have lifted myself from a blank mind back to a well-rounded consciousness.

Loss

2008-01-08T01:38:00.001-05:00

That's me and my parents watching Ohio State lose another National Championship. My parents are in the laptop, watching from Peru via Skype (game wasn't on tv there, too much real football on Sundays (and for legal purposes, this paragraph is a fantasy)). Somehow i managed to make this photo into quite an autobiographical statement - knife, boots, beer, random boxen.

Yer out!

2007-11-30T14:00:00.001-05:00

Had i been on that plane, there would have been one survivor - work has warned me that i'm not allowed to die or otherwise have anything bad happen to me. Instead, my relation to current events has me stranded in Zagreb for a day, a result of the immovable force known as the Italian strike. Had i been more on the ball, could have checked out Ljubljana, but in the wee hours of my Zagreb arrival, was not comprehending which country was on strike (how could i wonder?)

Wandered around Zagreb, a city i've wandered around in the past - at least this time an old man did not proposition me within the first ten minutes of my arrival. Went to a sculptor's museum and saw how a three dimensional artform can become a two dimensional work.

Added a couple k's of liquid to my pack, wonder how customs will like that.

Listened to a Belgian complain to me about graffiti, and brag that Belgium has none. That country's not even 12,000 square miles, probably can't find anything decent to tag - not that i support mindless sparypaint, the main variety found in these parts.

And now just wait. And wait. And wait, for the first post-strike train to Venice.