Bamboo is not Wood

Wood is fun and easy to work with, bamboo is a grass and is a pain in the ass. We made a fountain over the past couple weeks. There were a couple times when I wanted to just scrap the thing and go buy one. The bamboo is hard to cut because the way the grain runs, it splits easily. Here it is with all the cuts done and rings boared out and tube inserted.



Kath did a great job picking out the bamboo, the base, rocks and a pump.



Then I put it together with Liquid Nails.



The Liq Nails wasn't enough, tho, so we soaked some leather straps and tied the loose joints with them. Now that it is done and plugged in, we are very happy with it and it works perfectly.

Kathleen's Birthday

Today is Kathleen's birthday so we went out last night. We started with some good Indian food.

Then we went across the parking lot to Skate King. Many people had not skated since they were a kid, so they were a little excited and apprehensive I think. And when they started lacing up is when it really dawned on them "Oh my god, I am actually going skating!"

Wow, Kathleen was like Sex-on-Wheels! Okay, pretty much everyone was looking damn fine on those wheels, but I wish I got more pix of Kath - she was a total roller babe. Going backwards and cross legged and just being all smooth...

Maybe the only one sexier was Joe! (not pictured) Dude makes me want to buy some roller blades!

Then on to Sea Monster for drinks and some more gifts.

Icing the injuries with frozen peas. Maybe I should do another post with just pictures of peoples bruises? (Send me your pix)

And the funniest card award goes to my mom for this hand made masterpiece!

White Xmas

I can't remember the last time we had snow on xmas. It didn't pile up too much and didn't stick around too long, but it was great while it lasted.

I Think We're Dead

...time is going by really, really, really, really slow.

Proof once again that cops always have the best weed.

Jon Lajoie video

This guy's got some pretty funny music videos. If you like this one, check some of his other ones on youtube. I like his friend Steve... (vid has f-word, too)

Entrepreneurship

This reminds me of a true story Greg told me about a lady who jokingly started an online tumbleweed business who actually started getting orders from Japan and Hollywood. I think she makes around $40K per year!

Megan's Art

John Burke and I recently went down to Harper Hair Studio at 1203 2nd Avenue (it's right on the corner of 2nd and Seneca) and hung some of Megan's artwork. She photographs buildings and architecture, manipulates it, then has it printed on canvas. The result is very unique and cannot be confused with anyone elses work. My two fav's are pictured below. You can also see her website here. Looks like she's already sold 2, so you better git down there quick!

Machine Girl

Nice Cans

No more drinking out of plastic for us. These bottles are made of aluminum and are supposed to be eco-friendly and have 0% leeching, but I mainly just dig the sweet designs. Take a look at the bottle options on their web site (they obviously spent more design dollars on the bottles than the site).

Whoa

We rented this documentary called Planet Earth. We haven't even finished it and I already highly recommend it. Here's one shot of a shark attack that particularily impressed me. It was shot with a Photron digital video camera at around 400 fps.

Now go rent Planet Earth, watch it, then come back here and check out this article on how they shot it.

Cross Country Skiing

We went cross country for the first time yesterday up at Leavenworth. We both got the hang of it pretty quickly. It was a beautiful day and not too cold. Had a great time hangin with Lara and Sanders. Photo/video coverage was minimal due to my lame ass camera running out of batteries... again.

Kung Fu + Soccer + Bald Guys

I'm not sure what to say about this video. I guess it doesn't even need an intro cuz it just speaks for itself, although I will say I was impressed with their editing and staging. The goalie is the senior student in my Kung Fu class. I've received countless bruises from him, one cut hand and a bloody nose.

Marathon Monks

I came across this article about these Tendai Bhuddist monks from Japan who do walking/running mediations. Turns out there was a documentary made, but I don't see it available to rent anywhere - it's only avail for sale at $50... too much to watch something once! But here's an 11 min preview of the beginning. (see below)

Apperently, these guys train for 7 yrs, totalling ~27,000 miles, a distance greater than the circumference of the earth, working their way up to a 100 day event where they cover 52.5 miles per day wearing straw sandals, their big old robes and these kick-ass hats. I gotta get one of these hats.

Edit Bay v1.0

I'm working on my demo reel now, so I needed to hook up a VCR and more importantly a DVD player and even more importantly my video camera to capture video clips from my various works, so I built this shelf out of scraps of red oak from the garage. It works perfectly and really ties my part of the office together. v2.0 will have a little television somewhere on that shelf...

Marathon is On

It's officially official - I've signed up for the Vancouver Marathon. I'm #426. Ben is #424...

Snow Day

Yesterday it snowed 2.25 inches in about as many hours. I went for a short run while it was still coming down. My first snow-run. It was beautiful - the bare tree branches were heavy w/ snow and everything was bright and quiet. Now it's raining and 36 degrees and I'm scheduled for a 9 mile run today (sigh)... I foresee a hot bath in my immediate future.

500Gb

I just put in another 500Gb SATA drive in for only $104... this weighs me in at 1.5 terrabytes. It's amazing that you can buy so much storage for so little money. I love it.

And what's funny to think about is that someday I'll look back and laugh that I spent that much for 500Gb and laugh even more that I thought 1.5Tb was a lot of storage.

Microsoft Sucks (but so does Apple)

Most people know me as somewhat of an Apple-basher, but you should also know that I despise Windows, too. Picking an operating system is like voting for a president, you basically just choose the lesser of the two evils. (Although we did have Nader on the ballot in 96 and 00... and I guess Linux is an option, too. Hmm, at least there's the illusion of hope.)

I-Need-To-Hurl

I was running down the street yesterday and saw a sign for a house for sale. The real estate agent's name was Anita Hearl. I laughed for a good block or so after that. Must be a married name.

Vancouver Weekend

We went up to Vancouver for the weekend and had a great time staying with Chris Tyrell. We took the bus up there and it was killer. I was apprehensive about riding the bus, thinking that we would have stinky poor people sitting next to us, but the bus was very clean, hardly anyone was on it and we did in fact encounter some poor folk and were pleasantly surprised to find they smelled quite nice. I really don't have a tolerance for driving anymore, so letting the bus driver do all the work while we watched a movie was brilliant - and it only took 3 hours to get there!

When we arrived, we went to Lolitas and had food and drink w/ our friend Lara, who just happened to be visiting at the same time. Staying w/ Chris was awesome. He's got a newly remodeled condo in a high-rise building in the heart of down town so we could just walk everywhere. And he's got a beautiful Burmese cat that we had a fun playing with.

The first day there was sunny, so I went and ran the final 9 miles of the marathon route, which was a real fun way for me to explore the city. Kathleen went shopping while I ran. She got a cute hat and a sweater. The next day was rainy so we went to the art museum and saw some really cool exhibits.

We took train back and watched another movie as it was dark and couldn't see a lick of scenery. I don't think I'll ever drive to Vancouver again. Bus and trains, man, all the way.

Cascade Loop, the Video

I kept thinking all Summer that I wanted to make a little video of the bike tour that Ben and I did, but kinda forgot to do it until Ben sent me his video, so I slapped this thing together... the beginning is fun, but you don't really need to watch the whole thing if you don't want. Enjoy.

Old School Technology

Look at this watch. It cracks me up - it's so old and clunky. It's Loren's heart rate monitor - he loaned it to me. It works pretty good, but is a little tempermental. It's got a strap that you wear on your chest.


I also have this other HRM watch I got from Big5 (my favorite store) for only $10 and you put your finger on it, but you can't get a reading while you're moving, so that's kinda the down side of it.



Anyways, I'm going to start keeping track of my heart rate to train for the Vancouver Marathon. It's interesting stuff, you see, you are supposed to train at 70-85% of your max heart rate for atleast 20 min to get the optimal cardio benefits from your workout. I think I have been over training, up around 170 bpm, so I'm going to slow down a little and shoot for 140 - 150 and see how that goes.

Critical Mass?

It's interesting how after I decided to do my first triathlon earlier this year, I kept meeting people who were also going to do their first triathlon, or people I already knew (friends and family / Ben and Adam) started signing up. Now, I'm planning on running my first marathon and am surrounded by people who either also want to run their first marathon, or have just done their first.

And whether or not you're interested in running, you should check out this PBS special about a group of average sedintary people who signed up for the Boston marathon. They took these people from couch to marathon (26 miles) in just 9 months. Very interesting from a scientific perspective and inspirational from a human perspective. You can watch it online from their site.

I think the Vancouver marathon is looking like a good option. Who's in?

The Business Card

Ok, the card is finalized. Big thanks to SOS for his design assistance. He actually did a little mashup action from the comps below and came up with this rendition, which I freakin love, so I'm going with it! And thank you everyone for your input and comments.
Now I just gotta make a web site that goes w/ this card...

Bed in a Box update

The foam bed didn't work out. It had a strong chemical smell that gave Kath a headache, so we're sending it back. I thought it slept pretty comfy tho...

My Business Card

I know it's been a while since my last post and I heard a nasty rumor that it might be because I got a job (Lydia)... No, I'm still enjoying my temporary retirement. But I have been busy. One of the things I've been occupied with is the development of my professional identity package. You see, a Multimedia Designer can't just send out a resume to get a job - I have to have a kick ass business card, web site, demo reel and porfolio.

So I've got the logo narrowed down, but am still refining the business card. Here's a couple comps for you all...
(comments are welcome)

It's my Bed in Box

Kath and I bought a new bed last week (memory foam) and it showed up at the house today. It was the strangest thing... I saw the UPS guy pull up, so I opened the garage and ran around the house to help him with the mattress, but when I got out front he was holding a box instead of a mattress. I thought maybe Kathleen ordered something else, or maybe the mattress came with this box of accesories or something, but no. Our mattress was in a box.

So I brought it inside and opened it and it was all wrapped up in a nylon sack, like a big bag of rice. As I started to cut the sack open I was a little nervous that this thing was going to auto-inflate and knock me on my ass or something. I didn't know what to expect cuz there were no directions. So anyways, I opened it up, unfolded it and layed it out on the ground and it slowly started to decompress and morph into the shape of a regular mattress. Then I stood it up on it's side and slid it into the bedroom and onto the bed. It's still a little lumpy and smells like rubber, but I guess that's normal for the first couple of days. I'll report back with a bed update in a couple days...

Wow - it looks like a real bed!

The Tower of Power

I am pretty excited about this new computer I just bought. The last time I bought a computer was in 2003 and it was great back then, but doesn't even meet the minimum system requirements for half the video and motion graphics software that I use now. So anyways, I got the parts a couple days ago and spent yesterday building and loading the O/S and software and, man, this thing is bitchin. I actually benchmarked the two systems and the new one is 4.58 times faster - that's before overclocking.

And almost as important as the speed is the sound. I specifically picked parts that were quiter and a case that is engineered to be silent - and it is. I think Kathleen's laptop is louder that this case. They really didn't miss a trick on this thing. It has hd cages on rails and silcone spacers to mound the drives (of which it will hold 6) and triple layer panels with brushed steel on the outside and adjustable speed fans. I could go on, but will spare you the details. But really, you should look at this animated tour of this case's features.

Not pictured are the 2 DVD drives...

Fall Cycling

Kathleen's kind, gracious and generous father, John Burke, loaned me this stationary trainer. This thing is freakin sweet. I set it up in the garage, put a 2x4 under the front tire to level it out, put the laptop on the bench in front of me, watched 2 Simpsons episodes and had a great workout. Now I just need a treadmill and an Endless Pool.

The only thing that would be cooler that this trainer is if it were on an alternator or some sort of generator, then I could make my own electricity... like this guy.

Riding Goggles v2.0 & v3.0

The riding goggles that I made earlier in the summer broke due to an over-zealous waitress, so I took the lenses and put them on a $5 pair of yellow safety glasses from the hardware store. They are great for grey days and night riding. Then I ordered some new perscription glasses off the web for only $8 ($12 w/ shipping) and took my broken sunglasses back to REI. They exchanged them no questions asked! That is why REI kicks ass (Return Everything Inc). So I popped the lenses out of the new RX frames, hot glued them onto the sunglasses... and I'm set for all season riding.

1 Gigabyte, Now & Then

Here's a picture of 1GB twenty years ago compared to now. You might want to enlarge this pic to really comprehend it. Thanks to cousin Gene for the picture.