. . . . MattWilsonMD . . . .

Awesome Motion Graphics

2011-07-29T13:18:00.000-07:00

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

Warrior Dash and Making Metia Man Video

2011-06-28T22:29:00.001-07:00

A bunch of people at work have signed up for this Warrior Dash, which is a 3.5 mile run that includes a bunch of crazy obstacles like climbing a rope wall, crawling thru mud, and jumping over fire. And since this is a work sponsored event, we decided to do a little Metia promo video. (Metia is the company I work at).

We needed a giant-sized, 3D, wearable version of the company logo. So we bought some foam, glue, and spray paint. First, I cut all the shapes.

Then I laid out the letters like a stencil.

A little spay paint (a lot of paint actually, 6 cans)

Some spray adhesive and some contact cement.

Cut the face and arm holes and added a little finishing touch...

...and viola! Metia Man is born.

Then we went to the park down the street and started shooting the video.

And here is the final peice!

and you might find this interesting, too. It's the storyboards I drew and video comp prior to shooting.

My First App - AmazonFresh

2011-06-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

The first phone app that I ever worked on was published today. It's a grocery (and more) delivery app for AmazonFresh on the new (and awesome) Windows Phone 7.

The project was pretty big and it took about 6 months of back and forth with the client, and a non-disclosure agreement which prevented me from showing it to anyone or talking about it, so it's really exciting to have it FINALLY released to market.

The new Windows Phone was so cool to work on that I gave up my iPhone and bought the Samsung Focus (running WindowsPhone7) instead. I love the device and I love the apps - they have such a elegant user experience and such modern design. I've started make my own apps on the side now, too.

And the AmazonFresh grocery service is sweeeeet! I use it all the time now. Just placed another order this morning at work, and then it was on my doorstep when I got home :)

If you have the new Windows Phone, download my kick ass app (opens in Zune) or search for "AmazonFresh" from your WP7, and give it 5 stars! (btw, it's only for Seattle & Eastside areas)

Beastie Boys - Fight for your right revisited

2011-04-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

OMG - this is SO brilliant! You might want to familiarize yourself with this old gem first, then watch the new one.

Stupid Pet Tricks

2011-04-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

I saw this video of a cat "putting on" its bunny hat. I thought it was pretty funny, so I made my own video with Mojo.

The original

And mine

If You Can Wake Up, Then You Should

2011-04-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

One of the last scenes from the movie Waking Life. As a whole, I thought the movie was pretty boring - just a bunch of monologs. But this scene I found very interesting. Makes me think about the nature of time. Or rather, the illusion of time. It will be good fodder for the six day silent meditation retreat that we're going on tomorrow...

Ava's Gymnastics

2011-04-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

The last meet of the season. Lots of high-flying acrobatics and crazy flexibility. My neice is definately an upcoming super star. A couple more years and she'll be on the Wheaties box.

The Weather Channel

2011-04-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

I did a demo video for The Weather Channel. We did not create the phone app, just the video. It was a pretty fun project to work on... Keeps my video skills from getting rusty. Plus the client was quite happy and has already referred new business to us. You can view the video on the Microsoft Showcase

Lacrosse!

2011-03-13T23:00:00.001-07:00

My little bro Vincent just joined a lacrosse team and they had their first game last Saturday. Vince played very poorly and the team lost 9 to 1 and i couldn't be more proud of him. He is not used to playing sports, has no idea how to play lacrosse, and only knows one kid on the team so he was super nervous, but got out there and did his best and ended up having fun. And most importantly, he put himself way outside his comfort zone and faces his fear. Now I gotta learn how to play lacrosse so i can help him practice! Posted with BloghuB for Windows Phone 7

Kathleen is Back

2011-02-27T14:09:00.000-08:00

After 2 months in India, Kathleen has returned. Here are just a couple of her photos.

This monkey is human sized.

Sadus - they have renounced all worldly possetions and relationships.

Not only are cows sacred, people just don't eat meat down there.

Part of the group she went with:

Bicycle Woman from the Future

2011-01-20T21:46:00.001-08:00

Holy Crap. This is just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I think I finally know what I will have tatooed on my back!

Kathleen is in India

2011-01-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, Kathleen is in India visiting ashrams and meditating like crazy. They are in Auroville right now. The big golden ball is the main attraction. If you are lucky, you can go inside to meditate.

This is the inside. I think this is where the Jedi counsil also holds their meetings :)

There are some pretty cool panoramic views on their website.

Black Hole

2011-01-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

Nice short video. Thanks to Poppa John for sending.

Merry Xmas to Me (from work)

2010-12-21T20:29:00.000-08:00

Today at work all 60+ employees got custom engraved iPads. I have to say this is the nicest xmas gift I've received from any place I've worked.

At first when I unwrapped it, I was like "Holy crap, this is sweet!", then I thought "Hey I could sell this for big bucks", then I pondered if I really need another gadget to add to our collection, I mean, I just got the Windows Phone 7 and two months before that, the iPhone, we have two desktops and a laptop... how many ways to surf the web and watch movies do we need?... and then I went back to my original thought "Holy crap, this is sweet!"

So in the holiday spirit of over consumption and materialism, I decided to open it up and keep it (at least for now). A week ago I was celebrating the unistall of iTunes from my computer, but now I had to load it back on :( And now I sit here on the couch w/ Kathleen, she on her laptop and me on my iPad, taking 30 minutes to tap out this blog post... and I have to admit that I'm not totally sure what the benefit of this device is.

It's sort of like a huge iPhone, except that there's no camera and you can't call anyone. It doesn't even have a mic. It could be a major influence in the way I relate to technology, or it could be a big waste of silicon. I'll have to figure that out. Either way, tho, it is one VERY generous gift :) Thanks Work!

WP7 Love

2010-12-17T15:17:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks ago I bought the new Windows Phone 7 and I have to say I am loving it. The WP7 operaring system (OS) comes on many different phones. The one I picked up is the Samsung Focus. It's very thin and light weight with a super-AMOLED screen, which is very high contrast. When the phone show true black, the pixels are actually turned off, so the blacks are totally black. It saves battery life and looks amazing.

Now, this new Phone 7 OS was just released in November, so there are some features that are missing (like copy & paste and a few other things), and not all of my favorite apps have been released for WP7 either (like Pandora and Angry Birds), but there is a HUGE OS update coming in Janurary and it's just a matter of time til there's more apps.

In the mean time, the things that I really like are

1) the interface is way sexy - the fonts, graphics, and subtle movements and just the whole experience of navigating around

2) the voice control is really good - you just say what you're looking for and the phone figures it out

3) it has "live tile" on the start page, which are constantly updated with new info (like weather conditions, photos of the band i'm listening to, new craigslist items i'm looking for)

4) you can also pin your own tiles to the start screen and you can pin pretty much anything - a map location, a contact, a song, a web page

5) this model has a 5 Megapixel camera w/ flash and shoots 720p HD video

6) last but not least, cuz this might be the coolest feature of them all.... the apps are built in Silverlight and I, ladies and gentlemen, am a Silverlight designer at a Silverlight agency. So I can build my own apps and load them on my own phone! right now I'm working on 2 apps w/ a couple guys from work. I'll share a demo when they're done.

7) whoops, i spoke too soon... the coolest thing is NO MORE ITUNES!!!

Watch the phone demo in fullscreen on HD

Microsoft Mission Critical

2010-11-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a new website I designed for Microsoft. We just launched it a couple weeks ago. This is the initial launch. There are still some design tweaks that need to happen, but it's good enough to share.

It was a pretty rewarding project to work on because I was excited about the design direction, as it is a little more progressive that the standard Microsoft brands. And the cityscape on the home page was fun to build.

Have a look around....
http://www.microsoft.com/servers/missioncritical/Default.aspx

The Zombie Side of Sears

2010-10-29T13:10:00.001-07:00

I love it when big companies take a little chance and have a sense of humor. Sear, which is a brand that I would consider to be quite conservative, pushed the boundaries a little by having some Halloween fun. Check out their zombie site!

The Late Start

2010-10-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

A shot from the recent Great Parks bike tour with some Photoshop post editing.

Photo Caption Contest

2010-10-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

I bought a pack of beef jerky recently. There was a little packet of something inside with this picture on it. What do you think they were trying to tell people? I think something about "don't feed this jerky to soul-less zombie children".

BikeTour 2010 - The Great Parks

2010-10-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ever since my bike tour with Ben in 2007 I've been dieing to go on another tour - I can't believe it took 3 years to finally get out again. Greg, Fil, Mark, Ron, and I took the last two weeks of July off and headed out for Montana and Canada for what was truly an epic ride. The following is my account of the adventure.

5 guys. 10 days. 580 miles.

Day 1 - Home to King St. Station (15 miles)

Got off work early and started peddling to downtown. As soon as I left my driveway the old familiar sense of freedom and adventure I felt on the 2007 tour came rushing back. God I love touring on a bike! I got to the station right on time to meet my buddies and break our bikes down and box them up. We had practiced doing this the week before, so we had no problems. There were two issues that came up already, tho. One was that Ron had a bungee cord fall off and get sucked into his back wheel on the way to Marks house that day and it messed up his wheel. Mark managed to true it to a pretty good extent, but it was going to have to be fixed or replaced soon. The other concern was that the whole trip was dependant on making each checkpoint each day, and the first day (Day 2) was the most crucial. We had to get off the train as quick as possible and make it to a certain point in Glacier Park before the closed the road to bikes, so that we could make it to our camp site. So we were little concerned when our train showed up at King St. Station 4 hours late! Well the train finally showed up and we had these sweet little sleeper cabins. Ron did not - he had to sleep in his seat. These cabins, although small, were great for hanging out in. We had beers and played cards and watched the scenery. We also had a free dinner and breakfast, too!

Day 2 - White Fish to St. Mary (76 miles)

The train made up a little time overnight and we got in to Whitefish at a reasonable time, but we were thinking that it was too late to make it to our road closure in time and we realized we were going to either have to hitch a ride thru the road closure area or just get in to camp really late. Either way we weren't too concerned, we were just happy to be on vacation.

We got our bike boxes and re-assembled the bikes and loaded them up and hit the road. The weather was beautiful and I was feeling great having slept quite well on the train. We did have to stop after a while to do some maintenance on Ron's wheel. It was becoming more obvious that this was going to be a problem, but we couldn't find any bike shops that were open. So we pressed on. At Lake McDonald, they close the road to bikes from 11am - 4pm and we did not make it there in time, but luckily they had these shuttle buses that you could load bikes on to, so we were able to save a little bit of time and get a little closer to our destination. We got off on the other side of the lake and started our biggest climb of the trip.

Going to the Sun Road: This road is actually a national monument and this was it's 100 year anniversary. It is an amazing road that's carved into the side of the mountains with a nice steady grade that just keeps going up and up all day until you finally reach the top of Logan's Pass (6500 feet) and the Continental Divide (this is where all rivers in the US flow from). It was a fantastic climb with amazing views of glaciers and mountains and valleys and waterfalls and wild flowers and mountain goats. There was even one point towards the top where there was a mountain goat in the road in front of me, and two goats behind me. I had to just peddle slowly and patiently wait for my opportunity to pass. It was really a pretty amazing experience.

We all made it to the top eventually. Rested for a couple minutes. Then made our decent down to St. Mary's, where we had a big meal at a nice restaurant and made it to our camp site as the stars were coming out. A quick cold water bath in the sink of the bathrooms and off to bed.

Day 3 - St. Mary to Pincher Creek, Canada (75 miles)

After fueling up with a great family style breakfast and stocking up on lunch fixin's at the general store, we hit the open road and headed for Canada. Another beautiful day with rolling fields and creepy cows that would stare us down as we rode by.

Right after we passed thru the Canadian border, we figured we should find a good place to make some lunch. We decided to head to a campground that was just a few miles away and see if there was some tables or something we could eat at. As soon as we rolled in to the campgrounds, it started to rain and we found this amazing covered area with two tables and plenty of room for bikes. We fixed up our feast of PBJ sandwiches, trail mix, and summer sausage and let the rain come down. And it was really coming down.

After we finished eating and Mark was putting some more finishing touches on Ron's where, the rain really started coming down and the wind started blowing like crazy. We all had to put on every warm and water proof piece of clothing we had. Then the hail came. Hail the size of marbles! I had never seen anything like this before - it was awesome!

It took about 30 minutes for the rain and hail and wind to subside and we started our climb out of the campgrounds and up a big hill. This is when mother nature attacked again. This time... it was a mosquito ambush! Again, I had never seen anything like this before - it was insane! Each of us had about 200 mosquitoes on us - just swarming relentlessly and attacking right thru our clothes. We were swatting and smacking and shaking them off and trying to move quickly to get out of there and get up the hill to where it might level off so we could out run them, but then Mark gets a flat tire! Man down, man down! Greg is the only one who can find his mosquito repellent, so he gives himself a quick coating and then jumps off his bike and is running around like an Indy 500 pit crew. And all of us are panicking like we're on fire and Greg is trying frantically to extinguish the flames. Ron is swallowing mosquitoes every time he opens his mouth to call for help. Mark yells for us to save our selves and leave him behind - he'll fix the tire and meet us at the top. It's useless to convince him otherwise, so Greg gives him a last couple repellent blasts and we all take off as fast as we can up the hill. I sprint for a minute and feel like I must have lost most of them. As I catch up to Fil, I can see that his white jersey is peppered with little black blood suckers and as I get closer I see that in addition to the 50 or so on his back, he's got another 50 on each pannier just waiting their turn to feed. As soon as I tell him about his mosquito pandemic, I look back and down at my bags and I've got the same thing! So I swat the bags and sprint, then swat again and sprint. Finally, we get to the top of the hill and there's a nice stiff breeze that blows the mosquitoes and away. Greg and Fil, got hit bad and they have immediate reactions to the bites and start swelling up. Me and Ron are not so bad, just regular bite reactions. Mark eventually makes his way up to meet us and is a little bit up too, but is fine overall. A little shell shocked from the attack, and light headed from blood loss, we press on. It's sunny and beautiful again... well, at least for a little while.

Eventually, the sun disappears and the rain slowly comes back. It's getting late in the day and we're looking for dinner. The rain is getting a little heavier and I'm getting cold. It's hard to warm up, too, because the group is riding a little slow. Finally, we come across some sort of diner/general store. We park our bikes on the side and walk in the front door. It's dark and no body's there. But why is the front door open? We walk thru the grocery store and can hear voices as we make our way back. Turns our the they had lost power, so we find the back bar and grill area full of locals sitting around eating chips and drinking luke warm beers and coffee. They welcome us in and we warm our frozen hands on hot cups of coffee.

We get to talking w/ some of the locals and someone offers us a ride to the next town, which is our final destination. They can't fit all of us, tho so Mark and I leave our bags behind and take off on our own to rendezvous with them 20 miles away in Pincher creek. And when I say we took off, I mean WE TOOK OFF. We were each about 60-70 pounds lighter without our gear and fueled by the frustration of being cold and riding slowly thru the rain, and we were absolutely flying! We were taking turns pulling on the flats doing in between 25-30 mph. We were catching glimpses of our forthcoming superhuman bike power. Then at one point we were coming down a little hill, going 35 - 40 mph, me in front, and hit the bottom of the hill where there was a abrupt transition on to a little bridge. Mark still had his handle bar bag on and as he hit the bridge, it knocked his bag loose and launched it straight up and in front of his bike. He shouted some sort of exclamation and bunny hopped and cleared the handlebar bag. Thank God he had no panniers weighing him down and was clipped in to his pedals or else that could have turned out very differently. So we gathered our selves again and continued our dash in to town. We got there before the rest of our group, because unknown to us, the power had come back on and they were sitting around eating nachos and drinking beer! That night we forfeited our reserved camp site and check into a hotel. I took the longest, hottest shower of my entire 37 year life.

Day 4 - Pincher Creek to Fernie (77 miles)

We left Pincher Creek riding thru open fields with wind turbines. A little overcast, but eventually turning into sun. Making our way past old farms and getting closer to new mountains thru Crows Pass and crossing from Alberta into British Columbia, and right as it started to rain again, we came across the world's biggest truck and a visitor center which we could see shelter under. Thunder, lightening, and rain. We even saw lightening strike the hill next to us and a tree caught fire, but was quickly extinguished by the rain.

30 minutes later, it was sunny and warm again, and we rolled on to the Fernie Red Tree Lodge. This place was fan-fucking-tastic. The town is great and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. And the lodge was great! It had super friendly, a bike locker room, computer room w/ Internet, game room, TV/Movie theater room, swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, communal kitchen.... this place was off tha hook! We hit the showers and walked next door to the Curry House. As we were waiting outside for our table, Mark and I set new personal best records for push ups. Mark with 55 and me with 104! I am contunually amazed at what my body can do... after riding 77 miles - 104 consecutive push ups, can you believe that?

After a delicious dinner and Bard's gluten-free beer, we soaked in the hot tub for a few and then went to bed. The delicious dinner, however, did not sit so well with my room mate Greg. Same with Mark. Both of them got bad diarrhea that night. Greg was up all night back and forth from the bed to the bathroom. By the time morning rolled around, he was wrecked. Poor guy.

Day 5 - Fernie to Wasa (74 miles)

We had a stellar breakfast at this little organic place, supplemented by some topical ointments and Imodium AD, then hit the road. Fil had his first flat tire, but fortunately had his pit crew (Mark) there to change it in record time and get him back up and running.

We had some really great back roads with no cars this day. That's my favorite type of riding - no cars.

Mark broke away from the pack and we let him go off as we took a more leisurely pace and pulled in to a little lake where we could wade out and cool off our legs as these little minnows (or whatever they were) nibbled at our toes.

When we arrived at Wasa, we set up camp and the camp, got some giant hamburger gut bombs from the diner, then the camp host showed me and Mark how to find underground water using coat hangers. I was told that I "have some strange energy".

Day 6 - Wasa to Fairmont Hot Springs (47 miles)

This was our leisure day. We rode thru some more beautiful country and had great weather - hot weather, in fact. We stopped again at another lake and jumped in.

We ended up arriving at the Fairmont Hot Springs by late afternoon. This place was really cool. It's the worlds largest odorless outdoor hot springs. They have multiple pools, both hot and cold. We had a couple beers, then hit the high dive. Mark took the Silver medal with his belly flops and Ron went home with the Gold thanks to his hand stand back flip.

Then we had a very nice meal at the fancy restaurant and went back to the condo to work on Ron's bent wheel some more. No, we still hadn't replaced this damn thing. Every shop we stopped at was either closed or our of business or was mountain bike only. But by this point his wheel was toast. It was like someone stomped on it. It wouldn't even turn.

Day 7 - Fairmont to Jaffray (90 miles)

I woke up to go eat breakfast and saw that both Ron and Fil were gone. They had hitched a ride to another town to go get a new wheel for Ron's bike. So Greg and Mark and I headed on w/out them with the plan of meeting up at a check point later in the day. It started out a really nice ride. We stopped for lunch and some of the best hamburgers ever. An hour or so after that, tho, we ended up riding into another thunder storm. There was lightening and thunder and we got completely soaked. It was like riding thru a car wash, we were just in survival mode, trying to get to the next destination in one piece.

When we did finally get there, we totally lucked out, because not only was there a general store, but there was an RV park in the back and they had hot showers and a laundry mat. I snuck in a shower, and then we all had some tea and cup-o-noodles, then we threw our gear in these giant dryers and we were as good as new. Ron and Fil had another story. So they did find eventually find a new wheel but finding a ride to meet up with us was a bit of a challenge. Nobody in their fancy SUVs w/ bike racks would stop to pick them up. They were getting a little desperate. So when Jeffy (or was it Swede?) stopped in his pickup and asked them, with a toothless grin, if they wanted a ride, they pretty much had no choice but to say yes. They threw their bikes in the back and hopped in the cab. The truck littered with beer cans, there's joints on the dash, this guy's chain smoking, and then informs them that "he just needs pick up his buddy real quick". So he pulls off and heads down a little dirt road. At this point their getting a little nervous and scenes from Deliverance is playing in their heads. Did I mention that Fil's black and Ron's Filipino? So they stop and pick up this other guy and now they have four full grown men crammed into the cab of this pickup truck. They stop for another case of Bud Light, and hit the road. Both Ron and Fil are feeling a little obligated to accept the beers that their new friends are offering them, so they drink one after the other. Everybody's drinking, even the driver, and throwing the empties in the back. Ron is strattling the shifter with his can between his legs getting slightly dented every time Jeffy has to shift.

So anyways, turns out these guys are salt of the Earth good guys and they drive our friends all the way to meet us. Ron and Fil both had about 6 or 7 beers by the time they arrived, and we still had another ~30 miles to go, too, so they were riding a little slow and a little crooked. We ended up getting to camp in the dark and found that all of the sites were full. Fortunately, tho, someone shared with us that it was OK to camp in a certain "No Camping" area as long as we left early enough, so we did.

Day 8 - Jaffray to Fortine (70 miles)

This day we crossed back over the border in the US and Montana. They're not joking when they call it big sky country. It is really amazing out there. Again we had some fantastic back roads with no cars.

We ended up getting to the campgrounds again to find that it was full. The camphost came out and we talked for a little bit. He was enjoying happy hour with some of his friends, Tom Collins in hand, and was fortunately in a pretty good mood. He showed us a place where we could camp and didn't even charge us. Turns out it was the best camp site on the whole damn lake. Plent of room, scenic overlook onto the water, fire pit, tables, beach... couldn't ask for anything more.

Day 9 - Fortine to Whitefish (40 miles)

I have to admit that I was a little bit tired of riding by this point. I think I was not alone. It was sort of all about just getting back to the train station.

We got there with plenty of time to spare. They even had a huge outdoor BBQ with live music to celebrate our return - it was perfect! We ate and drank a little, then made our way over to a health club where we could shower, swim a couple laps, and soak in the hot tub a little.

We had a great train ride back with free dinner and breakfast. If you've never done an overnight sleeper car on a train, I highly recommend it. They even have showers! Day 10 - King St. Station to Home (15 miles) We said our goodbyes at the station and I headed home. One of the really cool things about a bike tour is that your legs gain super human strength. On the way home, I was going 20-25 mph, fully loaded with gear screaming past dudes with their racing jerseys on their fancy carbon fiber bikes. They couldn't even draft off of me I was going so fast. This super human strength stuck around, too for good week or two. It has pretty much all worn off now, tho, and some of the memories of the trip are fading, too, but at least I've got a nice collection of 284 photos and videos to help remind me of this epic ride.

My Tech Enima

2010-08-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

This has been a big weekend for me.

First, I have been holding strong with Windows XP for many years, both at home and at work. The reasoning being "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I managed to dodge the Windows ME bullet, and I skipped that whole Windows Vista fiasco, having never heard anything good about either one. Well, I finally came to a point at work where I had to upgrade. We are creating a phone app for the upcoming Windows Phone 7, and the development tools require Vista or 7... so I switched at work, and liked it so much, I am now switching at home. Installed the new OS yesterday.

Secondly, I have also always been pretty anti-Apple, due mostly to the mindless masses that wholeheartedly swallow all the Apple marketing and adopt the Apple brand as part of their own egoic, mindmade sense of self. That and I do not like Apple's rights managed mp4 iStore and intrusive iTunes program. So anyways, on Friday I decided that as a Interactive Designer, it is my professional duty to be familiar with current devices, trends, and so on and so forth, SO, I bought an iPhone. It's a little sad putting my trusty old Sony-Ericsson phone aside because it really is a great little phone, but I must say I'm really having fun getting to know this new iPhone. And I think I feel like a different person now, too.... cooler, smarter, more confident.

Just kidding. It has not yet changed my persona. And I did cover up the Apple logo on the back and will be using WinAmp to load my music, NOT iTunes.

The History of Everything in Stop Motion Street Art

2010-07-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is a 9-minute work from Italian artist BLU. Very cool.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Tape on Canvas

2010-07-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Literally. Casette tape on canvas. Aren't humans amazing?

See more

World Cup Pivot

2010-07-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

There is a technology called Pivot, that allows you to visually sort thru information. We did a little World Cup site at work. It turned out pretty cool. I did the logo.

2010-06-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the High Fructose Corn Syrup commercials? Evidently the Corn Refiners Association is pumping out a little propoganda (do I smell cigarette smoke?) to help protect their profits. Here's one of the original commercials:

And here is one of the MANY spoofs made to counter them:

I love it! A midget and a transvestite. Pure genious.

This one's pretty good too:

Check out YouTube for the other spoofs and counter commercials - there's some good ones.

Maestro Felix

2010-06-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Our friends Brock and Andrea had their son Felix's first piano recital. He is a very talented young man... and you gotta see this smile at the end. Watch the video. Too cute!

Save-Man

2010-06-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

One of my work mates, Elizabeth, and her husband created this free online word game. If you like Scrabble, you'll totally dig it.

www.save-man.com

Hi Kathleen, this Post is for You

2010-06-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

I had my hemroid cut off on Thursday and I wasn't up to going to White Pass for the ski trip, but i did still want to get out of town, so I packed up my guitar and drawing book, pinched a fresh piece of gauze between my butt cheecks and went to Port Townsend. It was nice. So nice. I was in a bit of pain, but I ate like a king to offset the discomfort.

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One of my favorite things about ordering Amazon Fresh...

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Had a lovely evening w/ the family for Mom and Stephen's bdays.

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A look around the Museum of Flight. It was actually way cooler than I thought it was going to be. We will probably go back before too long. I went on Air Force One, too.

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Here's some kitty luv for ya...

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I've been forgetting to take pix and vids this past week :(

I went out w/ Fil, Mark, Brian, and Matt S joined us, too at 22 Doors. Also I went to a lecture at UW w/ a couple peoples from work. That was really fun to eat in the U District (Indian Food :) ) and then walk around campus. I felt like a student again.

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Here's a little video clip from the basketball game.

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Had a sleep-over dinner partay at Greg's parent's house. Nice dinner and dessert, followed by board games and then a movie. Then went out to breakfast the next morning.

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Vincent and I went to the Microsoft Store at Bellevue Square and met up w/ the Big Bros & Sis's for a gaming day. This video is before the event started.

=========================================== I fixed the steering issues w/ the go cart and put it on Craigslist and now it is gone! finally. =========================================== It's snowing right now. It's Tuesday night. I was watching a movie and eating dinner, then I looked outside and there was already 2 inches. So I took a long meandering walk around the hood and down to the store. When I got back, there was another inch :)

============================================== I had so much fun selling your Palm Pilot, that I went and sold my weights, too. $30 =============================================== Sold your old Palm Pilot for $27 buck. ========================================== Went out for Korean food last night.

===================================== Deb had a new years party and people were supposed to make their own silly hats and noise makers. Here is my hat.
and here's a clip from the party (it has no sound)

========================================

I'm doing an experiment to see if the organic potato sprouts differently than the non.

========================================== We have a permanent (wind proof) roof on the mediation room now. ========================================== I fixed the old air compressor and sold it for $80 :D ===========================================
I came across some guys trimming some trees and got them to deliver the wood chips for free. Now both piles are covered w/ tarps and awaiting further instruction. ==============================================

I Met the Walrus

2010-05-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

A team of 5 guys collaborated to create this amazing animated short set to the insights of John Lennon.

My Tank Addiction

2010-05-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

I don't normally do this kinda thing, but lately I've been playing this online game called Tanki. It's free, it's pretty simple, and I just cannot stop playing it! If you want to kill some time, and some tanks, go here.

Reinventing the Wheel

2010-04-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is brilliant - an omni-directional wheel. Here is Honda's U3-X:

Full story here.

Feed Bags

2010-04-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

I think I posted this once before, but it's worth another look.

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

Solar Beat

2010-04-20T09:25:00.001-07:00

Ever wonder what the universe sounds like? This is worth a minute or two.

Damn, Pluto is slow... now I see why it's planet license has been suspended....

Coolest Thumbs-up Ever

2010-04-16T13:07:00.001-07:00

For the Old School Gamers, Like Me

2010-04-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

This... is awesome.

PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.

Changing of the Guard

2010-04-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a little sad, and a little excited.

After many years of faithful service and numerous upgrades (2 motherboards, 3 cpu's, 3 heatsinks, 3 optical drives, 4 hard drives, 3 power supplies, 2 fan controllers, 2 lighting kits, and a few Operating Systems) it is finally time to retire my old "Hot Rod". I speak, of course of our computer that has most recently been functioning as our living room media pc.

We have just replaced the old beast with a new, store bought computer. It's a Gateway with the Intel i3 quad-core proc, 1 Tb sata drive, 6 Gbs RAM and Windows 7. It's super quite, very energy efficient, approx 1/3 to 1/3 the size of the old computer, and about 5 times as FAST!

I'm a little embarrased to have purchased a store-bought computer, but when I added up the cost of building a similar system myself, it was actuall a little bit more.

Here's some pix of the history of the old "hot rod" computer:

Today's Groove Challenge

2010-04-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

A little shout out to my lady - Kathleen! Here's the challenge, put this song on and go back to your emailing and facebooking and try, just TRY, to not bob your head and/or shake your butt. I give you about 39 seconds :)

40 Thieves feat. Qzen - Don't Turn It Off (Brennan Green Mix)
"Qzen, drop it like it's hot!"

Your New Wallpaper

2010-03-30T14:16:00.001-07:00

This has been my new practical joke at work. When someone walks away and leaves their computer unlocked, I set this as their desktop so they have a nice little treat when they come back. Maybe now you can go put it to some good use too?

Yelapa

2010-03-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

I've been to different parts of Mexico and to Europe and Japan, but this trip to Yelapa may have been the most foreign place I've been to yet. It's like the land that time forgot, and then just recently remembered. You see, they just got electricity five years ago. And theres no cars... cuz there's no roads! Just people walking around on cobble stone and dirt paths and riding mules and horses and cruising around on boats!

Long story short, we had an amazing vacation. Absolutely beautiful beaches, hardly any tourists, quiet little fishing village, fantastic food, rented a nice house right on the water, met all sorts of really interesting people, went to someones birthday party, had dinner at someones house, took a motor boat to an even smaller village, hiked up the river to waterfalls... and had a few pina colada and Pacificos. John and Kay traveled w/ us but they only visited Yelapa for a day and were stuck in crappy Puerto Vallarta the rest of the time :)

Silverlight Tutorial - Obfuscating Fonts

2010-03-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

** This post will not interest my usual readers**

However, if you are interested in obfuscating/protecting your fonts in a Silverlight app, read on.

Here's the basic steps that I'll show in the video tutorial:

· Create Microsoft Word Document
· Change the font to the desired font type
· Print to XPS file
· Change the XPS file extension to .zip
· Open zip file and navigate to Fonts directory (eg: somezipfile.zip\Documents\1\Resources\Fonts)
· Copy the ODTTF file (***DO NOT CHANGE THE NAME OF THE ODTTF FILE***)
· If more than one font is required you can add several to a zip file
· In the Silverlight project (not the associated web project) include the ODTTF, or zip file using “Add -> Existing Item”
· Click on the newly added file and go to properties
· Change the “Build Action” to Resource
· In the Xaml file you can now add controls with the FontFamily set
· Compile
· You may need to launch the site in the debugger to see the fonts for the first time, but after that they should show up in the designer

Sherlock Holmes Credits

2010-03-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

These are beautiful credits. Hand written letters with illustrations and a wet ink effect. I haven't seen the movie, but judging by the previews, these credits seem to very appropriate to the style of the film.

Google Chrome

2010-03-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

Some nice european commercials done for Google by BBH Labs.

And some interesting behind the scenes details on their site.

Don't Believe What You See

2010-03-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

It is so amazing what can be done w/ green screens and computers. You just can't believe anymore what you see or hear.

Beautiful Infography

2010-02-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

OK, I have a slight confesion to make. Sometimes I use this blog as a way for me to archive things I like for later reference. For some reason, I'm not good at maintaining my "Favorites" in my browser, or remembering to go to that folder in "My Documents" I made called "Inspiration". So I just put them up here instead... But anyways, this is still probably stuff worth looking at.

Here are some really nice samples of infography I came across this morning. Here and here.

Robot Rabbit Dance

2010-02-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

So I bet you think your daughter or sister or neice is pretty cute, right? Well I think I can safely say they are no match for my neice, Ava. This girl is so sweet, I am going into insulin shock. Here she is doing some sort of Robot-Rabbit hybrid dance. (OK, Andrew's, pretty cute, too.)

T-shirt Stop Motion

2010-02-10T16:44:00.001-08:00

Wow. I can't believe they had all those shirts screen printed for this!

Bike-robatics

2010-02-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe the things this guy can do with a bike. It's like watching a Hollywood movie w/ CG effects.

STP

2010-02-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

I guess I never did post anything for the 2009 STP because,
1) it was sort of eclipsed by our Japan trip, and 2) I didn't really take any photos. I just got these pix from my friend John, so I figured I would do a quick post here.

The trip was OK. I don't think I'll do it again tho. It's pretty much the same reason I don't go to concerts at the Gorge. You are paying to do something you could do for free, your have to fight crowds and stand in lines, you sleep in a parking lot, and you have to spend 3 hours plus cramped up in the car.

That being said, we did have some good fun. It's hard not to when you're riding bikes with your buddies. We had great sunny weather on the way down, followed by some food, smokes, and beers in the evening. The second day was wet and wet. I refused, however, to let that keep me from drafting, so I ended up with a nice mud facial treatment.

It's All in the Details

2010-02-01T15:42:00.001-08:00

I came across this logo today as I was working and I found myself just staring at it for at least a minute. Then I kept working on this and that for a minute until I pulled it back up and stared at it some more. There is something about this icon/logo that I really like. Look at the nice little reflection on the top, complimented by the glow on the bottom, and the slight bevels along the edges and the faint shadows. I know it's just an "e" with a swoosh around it, but someone did a nice job on this one.

Wrestle-mania

2010-01-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

My nephew is in his first year of wrestling and it turns out he's pretty good. I've been to two of his matches in the past week and I have to say that it is pretty exciting. There is a lot of energy going on there... coaches shouting, dads shouting even louder, crowd cheering, kids crying.

I should take some video next time so you can see what I'm talking about. But anyways, check out these action shots. My nephew is in blue.

Computer Radiation

2010-01-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

Yikes! I think I need to make some changes to my computer set ups. Take a look at this article about computer radiation & EMF.

Phat Beats from The Crystal Method

2010-01-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

I am considering buying a drum set on the way home from work tonight just so I can kick this funky drum beat.

High Roller (Album Version) - ...

Ava vs. Johnny

2009-12-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

Who's a bigger rebel - Ava or Johnny?

Graphic Design 101

2009-12-21T11:56:00.000-08:00

Here's a little glimpse into the creation process of a recent job at work. I find this sort of stuff infinately interesting, so maybe you will find it atleast partially amusing.

I made a holiday email for a Microsoft client last week. Here are the indivual images that I used.

Combine all of these together, add some type, a couple color gradients, and paint on some snowflakes, and you get this:

Les Rhythmes Digitales

2009-12-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

Dig this jam. I think I saw my friend Ben dressed up as robot in there, too!

Canadian Fish Finder

2009-12-15T18:07:00.000-08:00

OK, there is no faking this shot. That shit is real!

Water Pipe Excitement

2009-12-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week Kathleen noticed that the washing machine was not working. I deduced that the pipes were frozen, thus restricting water flow to the appliance. So on Wednesday, I was working from home and decided to put a space heater in the laundry room to thaw the pipes. Well, it worked. They thawed and proceeded to fill the wall with water, which pooled up to about an inch or so of standing water, which then spread into half of the garage!

Thankfully I was home! I wet vac'd the water out and had to scrap up a lot of it because it was freezing. I then proceeded to tear the wall open and found the busted pipe. A couple of trips to the hardware store later, I had the new pipe soldered in place and we even did a couple loads of laundry. :)

Bokeh

2009-12-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

I learned a new word today... "bokeh".

Here's the Wikipedia definition:

In photography, bokeh is the blur,or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light."
The term comes from the Japanese word boke (暈け or ボケ), which means "blur" or "haze", or boke-aji (ボケ味), the "blur quality". The Japanese term boke is also used in the sense of a mental haze or senility.

The English spelling bokeh was popularized in 1997 in Photo Techniques magazine, when Mike Johnston, the editor at the time, commissioned three papers on the topic for the March/April 1997 issue; he altered the spelling to suggest the correct pronunciation to English speakers, saying "it is properly pronounced with bo as in bone and ke as in Kenneth, with equal stress on either syllable". Bokeh replaced the previous spelling boke that had been in use at least since 1996, when Merklinger had also suggested "or Bokeh if you prefer."

The term bokeh has appeared in photography books at least since 1998. It is sometimes pronounced /ˈboʊkə/ (boke-uh).

Ricky, you little PERVERT!

2009-12-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

Get out of this house! OUT, I say!!

Mud Room Update

2009-12-02T21:25:00.001-08:00

All I do is eat, sleep, go to work, and then work on this mud room. OK, sometimes I go running or watch a movie. But this project feels like it has consumed me. We are making good progress, tho! The exterior is pretty much entirely finished. Just a couple little spots to touch up w/ paint, and a little reworking of the rain gutter downspout. I gotta say, it is really exciting coming home to my new back door. And it feels so luxurious when it's raining and we need to get the laundry. It used to be that we would just dash from the house to the garage and back and try not to get too wet.

Next step is the electrical. Oh boy!

Virtual Workspace

2009-12-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Making a funny video is hard.

This is the lesson I learned (again) last month. We had a client that wanted us to make a YouTube video that would highlight all the key points of their software, but be funny enough to be viral. Oh, and they barely had any budget.

So I ended up basically writing the entire script, doing the shooting, editing, some directing, and even some acting. People - I AM NOT A COMEDY WRITER! This stuff is fun, but difficult. And a big challenge is that comedy can be so subjective. I mean, think about how many sitcoms there are on TV, and how many of them do you actually think are funny? And those shows have huge budgets, with teams of professional writers, actors, directors, etc...

All that being said, it was still a fun project and it was refreshing to get away from my desk and strut down the halls at work wearing my new wig!

Sorry I'm Late - Stop motion

2009-11-30T14:35:00.000-08:00

This is a fantastic stop motion animation. Take a look at the "making of" on their web site. I would love to do something on this scale!

Breaking Blocks

2009-11-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

We had some old paving blocks that we didn't know what to do with, so instead of giving them to someone who could use them, we decided to destroy them... with our fists!

Another Microsoft Project

2009-11-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

Here's something I made recently at work. http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/costsavingscalc.aspx It compares some Microsoft software to IBM software. The more you save, the more excited the little people get. It is a follow-up to a previous online tool we built for them. It was pretty fun creating these little people and animating their resonses. It's amazing that I get paid to do this kind of stuff!

A little shortcut: After you've hit the "Show me the money" button, you can just use Cntrl+Shift+1...,2,3,4,5 to see the different reactions.

People Under the Stairs + Japan = This Video

2009-10-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

This combines two of my recent fav's. Latest favorite rap group and latest favorite vacation. (And latest favorite form of inefficient transportation.)

Luv Birds

2009-10-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

Kathleen just emailed me this picture of a little drawing I did a while back. I think it was something I drew inside someone's card or something... Anyways it's a bird portrait of us, and when I saw it today, I laughed my ass off.

Breezeway Update

2009-10-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

Been busy working on the breezeway. We've had quite a cast of free laborers coming thru, too. My bro (Adam), my Dad, Greg, Kathleen's Dad, and even Kathleen was out there shooting the big nail gun!

It's amazing how slow this project is going. All these little cuts and measurements and considerations and trips back and forth to the hardware store. Right now, we have the roof framed in and this weekend I hope to get the plywood up top and start shingling.

That Health Care Issue

2009-09-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

New Rule: You can't complain about health care reform if you're not willing to reform your own health. Unlike most liberals, I'm glad all those teabaggers marched on Washington last week. Because judging from the photos, it's the first exercise they've gotten in years. Not counting, of course, all the Rascal scooters there, most of which aren't even for the disabled. They're just Americans who turned 60 and said, "Screw it, I'm done walking." These people are furious at the high cost of health care, so they blame illegals, who don't even get health care. News flash, Glenn Beck fans: the reason health care is so expensive is because you're all so unhealthy.
Yes, it was fun this week to watch the teabaggers complain how the media underestimated the size of their march, "How can you say there were only 60,000 of us? We filled the entire mall!" Yes, because you're fat. One whale fills the tank at Sea World, that doesn't make it a crowd.
President Obama has identified all the problems with the health care system, but there's one tiny issue he refuses to tackle, and that's our actual health.
And since Americans can only be prodded into doing something with money, we need to tax crappy foods that make us sick like we do with cigarettes, and alcohol -- and alcohol actually serves a useful function in society in that it enables unattractive people to get laid, which is more than you can say for Skittles.
I'm not saying tax all soda, but certainly any single serving of soda larger than a baby is not unreasonable. If you don't know whether you burp it or it burps you, that's too big. We need to make taking care of ourselves an issue of patriotism. If you were someone who condemned Bush for not asking Americans to sacrifice for the war on terror, the same must be said for Obama and health care.
President Arugula is not gonna tell Americans they're fat and lazy. No sin tax on food on Obama's watch. And at a time when it's important to set new standards for personal responsibility, he appointed a surgeon general, who is, I'm sorry, kind of fat. Certainly too heavy to be a surgeon general, it's a role model thing. It would be like appointing a Secretary of the Treasury who didn't pay his taxes. He did?
And get this: Surgeon General Benjamin had previously been a nutritional advisor to Burger King. The only advice a "health expert" should give Burger King is to stop selling food. The "nutritional advisor" job was described as, "promoting balanced diets and active lifestyle choices" -- and who better to do that than the folks who hand you meat and corn syrup through a car window? When you have a surgeon general who comes from Burger King, it's a message to lobbyists, and that message is, "Have it your way."

- Bill Maher

-----------------------------------------------------

I don't usually like making political posts, but I just thought that was too funny not to share.

2009-09-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

We bought this mirror from Ikea. Look at the instructions that came with it. Can you make any sense of these? I'm thinking it has something to do with "what to do when you find a geoduck in your mailbox".

Award-Winning Design

2009-09-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

It's about time I won a freakin' award for something. The Web Marketing Association gave me, ...us, ...Metia, an award for this project we did for the Microsoft SQL Business Value Calculator. Now, I've never heard of this organization, so I don't really know how prestigous this is, but it's always nice to get recognition from wherever you can. AND, it will still look nice on the old resume!

Breezeway Progress

2009-09-08T12:47:00.001-07:00

This weekend, I pressure washed the building site of our future breezeway to make way for a little additional concrete slab. We were not able to pour, however, due to unruly rain. But since I had the washer for a full four hours, I was able to wash the whole back patio and deck. Look at that before and after of the deck... it's like new!

Go Go Microsoft!

2009-09-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is supposed to be a slow time of the year for us at work. They always plan on being slow due to our client's budgets and fiscal years and so forth. That, coupled with the down turn in the economy, should be gauranteeing me with stress-free summer days coming in late and leaving early and taking lots of vacation time (I'm trying to take a week off for a bike tour). But noooooo. Microsoft is moving full steam ahead and just craming new projects (and money) down our throats. Good ol' Microsoft - keeping me very employed.

Here's two new sites that we just build for them. My job is creating the interactive main graphics for the home pages.

Streets and Trips and MapPoint

The Mudroom Begins

2009-09-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

Or is it a covered breezway? Whatever, it is, we are both very excited to be breaking ground on this project as it has been something that we have wanted to do pretty much since we moved in. We have the detached garage which is where the laundry room is and we keep our shoes out there, too, since we don't wear shoes in the house and it really gets to be a pain in the ass schlepping shoes back and forth.

Anyways, we are going to connect the two structures and improve our quality of life significantly, I think. Last weekend, I tore up a portion of the deck and even removed some of the siding and door trim. This weekend, I will pore some cement for the slab.

Use your mouse to look around this 3D model of the project.

Stick Man Art

2009-08-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I collect stick man photos. That is to say, I shoot pictures of stick man signs and stickers, etc. So I was excited to see this brilliant album cover. And yes, I do have most of the above stickmen.

Miniature Golf at Work

2009-08-20T15:37:00.001-07:00

This is how I spent most of my day at work today. We designed and built a little par five course in the middle of our work area. The Events team used a scoring system of 1 -5 based on 3 categories: Playability, Creativity, and Use of Theme (US Landmarks). My deptartment scored an almost perfect 14.5 out of 15 possible points.

Here's our course (it's a coast to coast theme). You start out by the Hollywood sign, jump the Grand Canyon, turn the corner of cheering fans, go thru the Mount Rushmore tunnel, past the Brooklyn Bridge and in the cup at Ellis Island, but don't knock down the Statue of Liberty

Performance: it's the name of the game

2009-08-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is totally me (all except for the leg shaving). Thanks to DrB for the video.

Tour de France 09

2009-08-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

Great pictures of the Tour

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/2009_tour_de_france.html

Back From Japan

2009-08-02T16:39:00.001-07:00

We just got back from Japan last night and I have started to go thru the 1,256 pix that we took, but it will take a while before I can finish the photo editing... plus I'm a little jet-lagged still. So, here's some random pix to tide you over until I can get them paired down and up on Flikr. We had a great time and it was an amazing experience. What a different and beautiful world it is over there...

Windows Office Trailer

2009-07-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

I thought this trailer was pretty funny, but I'm not sure if it's just because I use a Windows machine and do work for Microsoft products, or it is truly laughable. You decide.

Do You Have What it Takes to Join the Swedish Armed Forces?

2009-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Set aside about 10 minutes and take this test. It is creapy and fascinating - reminds me of that show Lost. It might take a little bit to load up, but it's worth it. Don't feel bad if you find out you don't "have what it takes". Apparently, I'll be keeping my job as a Graphic Designer.

GI Joe PSAs

2009-07-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite FenslerFilms. These are quirky, usually politically incorrect, remakes of the old GI Joe PSA's.

Many people have copied his work, but all the originals are here. It might be easier, tho, to view them on YouTube. Just search for "GI Joe Fensler".

Grooveshark

2009-07-09T16:06:00.001-07:00

This is another free music site. I haven't tested it too much, but it seems to have a pretty extensive song library.

Let's Go Around Back, Where We Can't See Them

2009-07-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

OMG, this is hilarious.

Fancy Footwork

2009-07-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big soccer fan. Nor am I a big Microsoft fan. But I saw this Microsoft video that has these soccer highlights and was pretty impressed. Here you go...

Silverlight Tutorial - Image Button w/ TemplateBinding

2009-06-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

** This post is not for my usual readers - you will be bored to tears. This post is for Silverlight Designers and Developers. **

I have been trying to figure how to make an image button in Silverlight that can use TemplateBinding to switch out the image. There seems to not be any clear instructions or tutorials out there, but I finally figured it out, so now I would like to share this extremely useful bit of information with you.

Below is a video/screencast of how to do it, but first I will just give you a brief description.

Create a button
Edit Template Style
Put and image inside the Content Presenter
In the XAML, select the Image and change it's Source to "{TemplateBinding Content}"
Back on the main stage, type the image path inside of the Content field (Properties Panel)
That's it (to add text, go back in the button and add a TextBox or ContentPresenter and set it's TemplateBinding to the "Tag" field and enter text there from the main stage

More Stop Motion Awesomeness

2009-06-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

These Ants are Freakin Me Out, Man

2009-06-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

Fearless

2009-06-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

Heard this old Pink Floyd song today. I haven't heard it in so long... What a great song.

Degenerative Auto-Repair Syndrome

2009-05-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

I think I have contracted Degenerative Auto-Repair Syndrome. The older I get, the less I am able (or willing) to do on a car. I used to be able to do almost anything. No challenge was too daunting, no bolt too tight, no axle too greasy. But the last two times I've had my car up on jacks, I've actually backed out and threw in the towel.

Today, I was under the car, taking off the starter and I started thinking that I wasn't totally sure that when I got it off, if I could put the new one on. Then I started thinking about other things that I could be doing, like sitting on the couch eating my leftover meatball sandwich and watching UFC. (the sandwich is in the toaster oven as I am typing this).

And the time before this, I had the car all jacked up to replace the brake pads, I had even gone to the store and bought the pads and then something just clicked. My interest level had dropped to zero and I just stared at the brake discs for a while, lowered the car back down and drove it to the mechanic shop down the hill. And I've changed brakes many times on many cars.

Pretty soon, the only thing I'll be good for is an oil change.

Biking to Work

2009-05-29T22:03:00.001-07:00

I have a sweet bike route going to work and back. Big shoulders, bike lanes, and even the Burke Gilman for a little bit. I go up past St. Edwards Park, down thru Juanita where I usually stop for tea in these wet lands and watch the birds on Lake Wa, then I ride along the waterfront all the way to work.

Here's some stats for you:

In May, I rode 309 miles.
28 miles per day.
6.4 miles of that is climbing hills.
Daily elevation gain is 1,730 feet (Stevens Pass is 4,056 feet)

Here's the boardwalk (Old Market Street Trail) which runs thru Juanita Bay Park. (These are other people's photos)

The Pandora Evolution

2009-05-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

Pandora has a new offering - it's called Pandora One.

Pandora One player (desktop)

This is only available to subscribers (a whopping $36 per). What do you get? Higher audio quality, customizable skins for the web player, no advertisements, and a cool new desktop app.

There are 2 ways to listen to Pandora from your desktop. One is to use OpenPandora, which is an open source free download. The other is to download Pandora's desktop player. The advantage of these desktop players is that you can just put the icon in your Quick Launch tray and listen with one click.

I have recently switched to the new Pandora One player.

It's advatages are 1) smaller overall size, 2) bigger album art, 3) nice fade out when you nix a song, 4) a little alert that flashes in the corner of the screen when a new song starts, and 5) it does not prompt you with a "are you sure you want to exit" screen when you hit close or if you're trying to shut down by just hitting your power button.

It's drawbacks are 1) you can only see one album at a time, so if you want to go back and rate the song before last, you can't, 2) no support for Windows Messenger to show the song you're listening to.

Pandora One song alert

Open Pandora (desktop)

Pandora mini-player (web)

Pandora One full screen player - classic view (web)

Pandora One full screen player - night skin (web)

Motivated Buyer Looking for AMC Pacer

2009-05-28T13:11:00.001-07:00

A friend sent me this ad today. A beautiful example of a charming Art Director somewhere that was able to sell this concept. I wonder if I could sell something like this to one of my Microsoft clients...

Phone Demo Jabra Dial 520

2009-05-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Another recent project at work. This was a really fun project because I got paid to build this phone in my 3D application. I've always thought it would be cool to do something like that. It was also refreshing to do something for a brand other than AT&T or Microsoft. Click in the lower left where it says "Get a quick demo here".

Here's a screen shot of modelling the phone.

Some Great Ads

2009-05-19T10:26:00.001-07:00

History is written by the winners.

(so true)

Thyroid cancer is growing 6 times faster than prostate cancer. Ask your doctor to check your neck. It could save your life. checkyourneck.com

more great ads here

$2000 Cheescake

2009-05-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

We went to a charity auction dinner on Saturday for this charity that I had donated my graphic design time to. It was a black tie event - I had to tuck my shirt in and everything. It turned out to be a very interesting evening. A LOT of MONEY was flowing in that room. They started the auctioning out with deserts. Someone at our table bought a white chocolate cake for $1000. It went nicely with our bottle of Dom. The desert that took the biggest price was the cheescake from the Cheesecake Factory at $2000.

Here is a video of a chocolate cake... not as big of a winner as some of the others... but still fun to watch how this guy works.

Grand total, they raised $261,000.

Stop Motion

2009-05-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

I was a little bored at work yesterday, so I made a little stop motion video. This is the first time I've done this, which I find suprising. How have I gone 36 years w/o making one of these?

SQL City

2009-05-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

Microsoft recently asked us (Metia... the place where I work) to make an online business calculator that shows you how purchasing Microsoft's SQL Server product will affect your business. They were thinking maybe we could make some fancy dials and graphs and such, but during my concepting phase, I was struck with the idea to make an actual little business that the user could affect. There would be little people moving around, interacting with eachother, server stacks appearing and disappearing, clouds moving by in the background... We had no idea if we could actually build it, but we were all excited about the idea.

I ended up pitching three concepts to the client. Fortunately, the client picked the concept that I was hoping they would and so I spent the next 88 hours meticulously animating little arms and bodies and fancy buttons and sliders. One of the developers at work hooked up all the back end, staying up till the wee hours of the morning. The final product turned out pretty nice.

I have to say, it is one my favorite projects since I started working here. Can you find me in there? :)
(play w/ the pie chart and add some more employees to the IT Dept)

Banksy

2009-05-09T18:15:00.001-07:00

We recently rented a video called Bomb It and found it very inspiring. It showcased a number of street artists - one of them was Banksy. Then last week, we stopped at Johnny O's house and flipped thru this really cool book he had just got that day called "Wall and Peace" that featured the works of Banksy. Then two days later, I was looking something completely unrelated to street art up on Google and for some reason Banksy showed up as one of the first results.

For some reason, Banksy has been calling me...

Check out his site. I love this stuff!

Slowwww Mo

2009-04-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Footage shot with the i-Movix SprintCam v3, which can shoot from 500 to 2000 frames per second. Very cool. Thanks to The Doctor for the link.

I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel.

Wolf Loves Pork (who doesn't)

2009-04-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

A little long for my 2 minute attention span (video is about 4 min) but brilliant. Just brilliant.