a full and fascinating life

cracking it open

2011-06-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

thunderhill turn 3 spin

2011-05-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Our Thunderhill track day with the Golden Gate Lotus Club finished with a bang.

Actually, it was more like a BANG, screeeeeeeeeeeech, rumblejostlebounce, splurp. I tried a "Miata line" on turn 2, hugging the inside so close that the inside wheels were touching the dirt. The line was great...until I neglected to track out at the exit, leaving me unprepared for turn 3. I stayed committed to the turn but ran out of track, clipping the front edge of the berm on 3. This induced a high-speed 360-degree spin which eventually plopped us into the mud off of the left side of the track. This was my highest-speed and scariest spin so far. (I'd rather not say how many others I've done.) I remembered to push the clutch this time, so we didn't stall. A couple minutes of rocking back and forth extricated us from the mud--no tow truck for us! After a visual inspection and an apology to one of the flag workers, we drove the car home dirty, but otherwise unscathed.

miata ouch

2011-05-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Some assclown hit the front left fender of my Miata while it was parked on the street. New fender and passable paint-job: $450ish. :(

Koni FSDs

2011-04-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Koni FSDs went into the Mazdaspeed3 today.

Lemons Arse-Freeze

2010-12-05T23:41:00.003-08:00

Some of the carnage we witnessed.

Hawk HPS vs. HP+: a world of difference

2010-12-01T00:24:00.000-08:00

Just an anecdote:

I had Hawk HP+ pads put on my STI a year ago. I helped put Hawk HPS pads on my Miata about six months ago. I liked the STI brakes just fine on either Hawk or OEM pads, but I was never entirely happy with how the Miata's brakes behaved. There was a very noticeable warm-up time before the Miata's brakes really started to bite. Even then, they needed way more pedal pressure than I would have liked, and it was alarmingly difficult to lock the tires. This was the second brand of pads to exhibit this behavior, so I just chalked this up to the Miata's smaller rotors and calipers, and decided to live with it.

Fast forward to today. I need to drive to Buttonwillow this weekend for a lemons race. I'd normally take the STI, but it threw another check-engine-light, and is soon headed for its sixth trip to the dealer in 6 months. (I'm shocked, I assure you.) Meanwhile, the Miata was down to 3mm on the old pads after the last track day, and the front right wheel rotor was starting to squeal. Clearly time for a change. In spite of their crappiness, I got 5 or 6 track days out of the HPS pads, so I guess I got my money's worth.

So tonight I did my first brake pad change, with a little help from Oleg. I'm still covered in brake goo, but I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. The hardest part was searching around the floor for 45 minutes, trying to find a goddamn spring that went flying.... Anyway. New HP+ pads installed. Very happy--they have BALLS![1] Guess it wasn't the calipers after all. Now I need to be careful _not_ to lock the tires.

[1]: My younger brother recently visited from the east coast. I let him drive the STI. After he picked his jaw off the floor, he said: "Wow, this car has BALLS!" I think that's the nicest thing anyone has said about any vehicle I've owned.

check engine light

2010-11-28T21:04:00.002-08:00

Another check engine light last night. A couple conversations with Subaru USA haven't resulted in any action. One more call tomorrow, then a lawyer, I guess.

From a full and fascinating life

first buttonwillow track day

2010-10-25T02:17:00.000-07:00

Calista, the Miata and I survived our first Buttonwillow track days,
safe and sound. (Unlike some of our friends--more on that later.)
This was track day 8-9 for both of us, our first event not at
Thunderhill, and our first track day with SpeedVentures.

I was slow and careful for two sessions, braked way too much, but
found a basic line. Then one session with an instructor, and then two
more without. The instruction made a huge difference. It would have
been a total waste to have the instruction for the first session,
before knowing the sequence of turns. And instruction any later in
the day wouldn't have given me any time to practice what I had
learned. So instruction at session 3 of 5 seemed to be about right.
Best $50 bucks I spent all weekend.

$50 bucks? After having access to free instruction with TEAM and HOD,
I was surprised to have to pay $50 for one session with an instructor.
SpeedVentures pricing is...different. $170/day for each day's event,
with five 20-25 minute sessions. Throw in $20 for a transponder, $10
for a helmet, $10 to get in the gate, and $40 each for a few extra a
la carte sessions, and it adds up. The sign on the gift shop door:
"Spend $40 and get a free hot dog!" o.O? But having the option of
paying per-session is pretty cool. One ticket and a couple extra
sessions each day kept us both happy. And $40 doesn't even buy two
sessions at Go Kart Racer, does it? Puts things in perspective.

SpeedVentures is fantastically easy-going. I suspect it's a
buttonwillow thing. Except for one hill, the track is almost
completely flat. There's no concrete, except in the pit area. When
it's dry, it's safe enough to encourage recklessness. Tons and tons
of off-track excursions, at least in my "Low Intermediate" sessions,
and no serious attempts to rein them in. In my heavily-attended
sessions, someone was four wheels off at least every other lap.
Really. You could tell, because you'd turn a corner and be looking at
a GIANT HONKING DUST CLOUD, sometimes with a car cleverly hidden in
the middle. I found myself thinking of Mad Max a lot. One guy
managed to go off-track in precisely the direction necessary to place
a half-inch of dust onto every flat surface in his vehicle. (We
watched him scrub his seats for an hour.) The advanced sessions
seemed cleaner. "Low Intermediate" lives in the uncomfortable place
between "new to driving" and "good at driving." Two of our sessions
were cut short, due to the amount of dirt we tracked in.

But it was dry. In mud, the same behavior would have been disastrous.
One tow truck wouldn't have been enough to keep us pull us all out.
And somebody would have eventually rolled. SpeedVentures had a
rollover less than a year ago, so it surprised me to see them so
carefree.

So the Miata made it home dirty, in need of new brake pads, but
otherwise safe. Some casualties among my friends, however.

One guy blew a big gaping hole out the side of the block in his
Z06, on the first lap of his first session, with an instructor in the
car.

Another took a speedy dive into a tire wall. Body damage
to bumper, hood, and both front fenders. Drivable.

I snapped a wheel bearing on our lemon in a practice session. Snap.
Funny vibration and metallic noise. And oh, hey, the brake pedal goes
down to the floor. (Not at 90mph, thankfully.)

Overall, a great time. Calista and I were both surprised by how easy
it was to pick up a new track. Great second track. Even better if
you can stay on it.

redneck spring compressor

2010-10-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

Blame my Lemons teammate Andrew. I was impressed. Both that it worked, and that nobody got hurt.

My Subaru STI is a Lemon

2010-10-05T02:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight I dropped my STI off at Santa Cruz Subaru. Again.

In 6 months (3000 miles) this is the car's 9th trip to a mechanic, and 5th trip to a Subaru dealer. All for the same problem as 6 months ago: frequent check engine lights (cylinder 1 misfire), very rough idle (whole car shakes), and poor fuel economy (17mpg highway). And now it smells like smoke when it starts. Capitol Subaru replaced the short block, the crank, a coilpack, and the spark plugs, and it still misfired. Santa Cruz Subaru readjusted the valves, and it still misfires.

I give up.

I haven't had a properly drivable car in 6 months. Even if the problem finally gets solved, I dread the prospect of paying future maintenance costs on a car that has been puking unburnt fuel through the exhaust system for thousands of miles. I don't expect much resale value for a car that has had its engine torn apart twice, yet still doesn't run properly.

This car, the largest purchase of my life, is clearly a lemon. I'm at wit's end.

Capitol Subaru sucks

2010-09-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

My recent service experiences with Capitol Subaru were so infuriating that I created a Yelp account and wrote a scathing review of the dealership. My review was posted to Facebook, and over a dozen of my friends read the review and clicked "Useful." Unfortunately, Yelp's automated systems filtered out the review, so no one will see it. In Yelp's defense, a harsh review by a brand new account does look pretty suspicious, particularly when it receives a sudden burst "Useful" clicks. It's not much fun to bitch if no one hears me, so I've included the text of my review below.

Since the former service manager (Justin) left in spring/summer of 2010, service is awful and shady. Do NOT trust them with your car.

I paid over $30,000 for a 2008 STI in October 2008. I kept it completely stock, and I've gone to Capitol for every repair and maintenance, a few thousand dollars in total. At 40,000 miles, it appears my car is a lemon, and Capitol Subaru can't fix it, despite multiple attempts. I haven't had a working car in two months.

In spring of 2010, on the way to work, I got a check engine light (CEL): cylinder 1 misfire. About 38,000 miles. The car was idling rough at startup. I brought it to Capitol Subaru. Justin wasn't around. The repair tech could not reproduce the problem, and sent me home. "Because I was a repeat customer," they waived the $135 fee for not finding anything wrong with my car.

The next day, on the way to work, the CEL was back. Exasperated, I took it to Auto Headquarter. They did a compression test, and the results were not great--barely within spec. The car was running rich and there was lots of blow-by. They told me the piston in cylinder 1 was dying, and would soon fail. I was skeptical. They changed the spark plugs, and the car handled a little better.

I drove it for a few thousand miles, but eventually the CEL came back. Cylinder 1 misfire. The car idled very rough, and was sometimes slow to start. I took it back to Capitol Subaru. Now that the problem was much worse, they actually took the time to compression test the car. At this point, the result was awful. 140 psi in cylinders 2,4, but 80psi in cylinders 1,3. Totally out of spec, totally broken. The cylinder walls were white. They told me they would have to tear down the engine to figure out what to do next. By this point, Justin (the old, competent service manager) was no longer with the company.

They took over a week before they even began the work. When I asked what had taken so long, they told me that a representative from Subaru USA was at the dealership, and they wanted to wait until he was gone before starting work. They said it would be harder to get the warranty fix approved by the manufacturer, if their representative was on site.

About a week and a half after I dropped it off, they told me that cylinders 1 and 3 were ovalled, and valves were leaking. They ordered me a new short block, under warranty. At the two week mark, the car was ready. I asked if they had compression tested the engine after the rebuild. The service manager said something like, "I do not have that information, but I'm sure our tech did everything properly."

I picked up the car. It idled very rough. I saw signs that the car had not been significantly road-tested. The engine knock sensor was completely uncalibrated. When you pull the battery on an STI, the knock sensor reverts to a conservative setting, and acceleration is sluggish. After a few dozen miles of normal street driving, the sensor calibrates, and throttle response improves. It's very noticeable. I was worried. I drove it home.

When I got in the car the next day, the car shook unhappily when it was started. On they way to work the next day, just 35 miles after the repair, I got another check-engine-light. Cylinder 1 misfire. On the brand new engine. I drove it back to Capitol Subaru.

This time they told me it might be the fault of the non-OEM spark plugs that my other mechanic installed. They charged me $145 for new spark plugs and an oil change (which I requested). They replaced the coil pack for cylinder 1, on a hunch. I picked up the car. It idled really rough. The knock sensor was uncalibrated again. Noticing a pattern? I took the car for a couple hundred mile drive, to see if I could trip the CEL. No luck.

I took the car to AutoHQ, to have them check the quality of the rebuild. Unfortunately, Kevin (owner) was on vacation. Still idling rough, I took the car to Santa Cruz Subaru last Sunday afternoon. Still no CEL. The service manager wasn't around, but I had a nice 15 minute chat with a tech.

Tuesday morning, I heard back. They said the car was idling very rough, and it threw a CEL for them: Cylinder 1 misfire. This was the first time that a Subaru mechanic acknowledged that the rough idling was not normal! Progress! They compression tested the car. 120psi in cylinder 1, 140psi in all other cylinders. Anything more than 7psi difference between two cylinders means the car is broken, according to Subaru USA.

So Capitol Subaru gave me a car that either:
1) they had not compression tested after the rebuild
or
2) they had compression tested, and found problems that they didn't tell me about.

Either is inexcusable. They never acknowledged that rough idling was a problem. They proved incapable of identifying a serious problem on the first attempt, and incapable of fixing it after two attempts. And they gave me back a car that clearly wasn't working.

schlepping milk crates

2010-09-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

I am now the proud owner of at least 44 milk crates.

I took the day off to transport most of my earthly possessions to my new apartment, with Calista's help. Early in the day, we stumbled upon a haphazard pile of milk crates behind an Indian restaurant, next to a dumpster. A short debate ensued as we weighed the relative merit of asking versus simply taking. In the end we asked, and quite astonished, we received. Seventeen fit easily in the back of her VW Golf, whose cargo capacity proved surprisingly sufficient throughout the day. I went back to pick up one more, just to make an even number.

I have a fetish for milk crates. Before the new acquisition, I owned at least 26, each purchased for $10 at The Container Store. While I'm long past the stage of life where they make socially acceptable furniture, I've nevertheless continued to find them to be an invaluable organizational tool.

At work, I zip-tied 8 together to form shelves that surround my workstation. All of my office doo-dads go in them. When the ~annual office rearrangement happens, I cut the zip-ties, stack the crates, and slap moving labels on them. The movers transport them to the new location, then I re-tie them. So fucking convenient.

When I last moved, I fit most of my belongings in 18 milk crates in the back of my Subaru. After the move, half became closet shelving. A few stayed in the back of my Subaru, as a trunk-organizer. The rest became shelving in my storage locker. The new 18 will help with this move, then they will land in the storage locker, too.

Milk crates are also good for (gasp) transporting liquids. Two 2.5 gallon jugs, four 1-gallon jugs, nine half-gallon cartons, and some undetermined number of pint cartons all fit perfectly. As you would expect, all of the common jug and carton sizes are made to be packed snugly in dairy crates. When my youngest brother went to Burning Man two years ago, he brought 30 gallons of water in 6 crates, wedging them into the back of a tightly-packed uhaul.

I love modular storage. I love when the real world produces physical objects with the same simplicity, efficiency, and utility that I see in really good software.

Whale Watching

2010-08-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

hard wired radio

2010-08-18T01:41:00.001-07:00

We don't need rechargeable batteries any more:

I bought a cigarette lighter DC->DC adapter to transform the 12 volts from the car to 6 volts for the radio. I dismantled both the adapter and the radio. I cut the ends off the adapter's wires (including the cigarette bit), then wired the adapter directly to the radio's battery terminals. I set the adapter to the 12v->6v setting, then cut off most of the voltage selector switch. (Keeps us from bumping it to a higher setting and frying the radio.) Then I attached the adapter to the radio with a screw, and managed to get all the plastic housings back together again. Hooked it up to a 12v battery, and everything still worked.

I should have taken pictures of the assembly process. It was cool.

The result is pretty solid, and not at all fiddly. You can shake the crap out of it, and nothing wobbles, wiggles, or jingles. It's still not very heavy--we should be fine with the belt-clip-zip-tied-to-rollcage thing we did last time.

hit by a Miata

2010-08-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

You've found the right team. I was the driver of the rx7 at the time
of contact.

This was my first competitive race, and my driving was largely based
the school line I was taught in my STI. In this case, a late turn-in
on 11 to line up straight for 12/13. The school-line doesn't always
work in a race, and I can see why you thought I was trying to give you
room. Mostly, I was just trying to hang on and not crap my pants. :)

I spun out after the impact. I managed to get back on track, but was
black flagged for the spin on my next lap. The judges were pretty
cool about it:

Judge: "Do you know why you're here?"
Me: "Because I spun?"
Judge: "So why did you spin?"
Me: "A Miata hit me!"
Judge: "Really?"
Me: "Yeah, they hit my left rear tire, and I spun out."
Judge: So what are we going to do about that?"
Me: "That's up to you, sir."
Judge: Alright, get out of here.

We were back on track with our next driver a few minutes later. The
damage was pretty light, but was obviously visible to the judge.
Missed the wheel, actually--just a dent behind the tire and a cracked
reflector. It sounds like your car got the worst of it.

Thank you for being so cool about it, tracking me down, and taking the
time to write an apology. My teammates are impressed, and will
happily accept delivery of a case of Bass Ale at Arse Freeze. Please
stick around and have one with us.

Me...I just want a Bob's Bigboy sticker to put on the dent.

Thanks for a great story. :)

Lemons Arse-Sweat-Apalooza 2010

2010-08-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

cool shirt coolers

2010-08-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

Lemons

2010-07-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

Traintown

2010-04-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

Lots of Miatas

2010-02-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

pick and pull

2010-02-06T13:37:00.002-08:00

stork club burlesque

2010-02-06T00:19:00.001-08:00

barbarian ascension

2010-01-04T01:14:00.000-08:00


fuzzynerd, chaotic male orcish Barbarian




                                   ---------
                                   |.......|
                                   |.......|                  -----
                                   |..._...|                  |...
                                   |.......|                 --..---------
                                |  |.......|  |          -- --...|...$...|
                                |. ----|---- .|           ---...%|.@..@%.|
                                |.....)%......|   I       %-.%%[%-...@...|
                                ---.........---     !     ---..%.|.......|
                                  -----.-----               --..%|.......|
                                                    -|--     --%.---------
                              ----              ----I         |..).
                                 |                 %          ------
                                %--          -   -----
                                  --             |
                               -   ----%----   --
                                       )       |
                                 ---------------

Fuzzynerd the Slayer St:25 Dx:18 Co:18 In:20 Wi:20 Ch:16 Chaotic S:2351286
Astral Plane $:773 HP:319(326) Pw:86(86) AC:-38 Xp:24/40083619 T:128897

Final attributes
  You were the Glory of Arioch
  You were piously aligned
  Your alignment was  654
  You were fire resistant
  You were cold resistant
  You were sleep resistant
  You were disintegration-resistant
  You were shock resistant
  You were poison resistant
  You were level-drain resistant
  You were magic-protected
  You saw invisible
  You were telepathic
  You had infravision
  You were invisible to others
  You were stealthy
  You could teleport
  You had slower digestion
  You regenerated
  You were protected
  You were very fast
  You had reflection
  Your life would have been saved
  You were wielding two weapons at once
  You were extremely lucky (13)
  You had extra luck
  Bad luck did not time out for you
  Good luck did not time out for you
  You survived 

Genocided or extinct species:
  hobbits
  dwarves
  bugbears
  dwarf lords
  dwarf kings
  mind flayers
  master mind flayers
  wood nymphs
  water nymphs
  mountain nymphs
  fog clouds
  dust vortices
  ice vortices
  energy vortices
  steam vortices
  fire vortices
  baby gray dragons
  baby silver dragons
  baby red dragons
  baby white dragons
  baby orange dragons
  baby black dragons
  baby blue dragons
  baby green dragons
  baby yellow dragons
  gray dragons
  silver dragons
  red dragons
  white dragons
  orange dragons
  black dragons
  blue dragons
  green dragons
  yellow dragons
  giants
  stone giants
  hill giants
  fire giants
  frost giants
  storm giants
  ettins
  minotaurs
  liches
  demiliches
  master liches
  arch-liches
  red naga hatchlings
  black naga hatchlings
  golden naga hatchlings
  guardian naga hatchlings
  red nagas
  black nagas
  golden nagas
  guardian nagas
  ogres (extinct)
  gray oozes
  brown puddings
  black puddings
  green slimes
  rust monsters
  disenchanters
  trolls
  ice trolls
  rock trolls
  water trolls
  Olog-hai
  kobold zombies
  gnome zombies
  orc zombies
  dwarf zombies
  elf zombies
  human zombies
  ettin zombies
  giant zombies
  ghouls
  erinyes (extinct)
  jellyfish
  piranhas
  sharks
  giant eels
  electric eels
  krakens
  80 species genocided.
 2 species extinct.

Voluntary challenges
  You genocided 80 types of monsters
  You polymorphed 480 items
  You changed form 1 time
  You used 9 wishes
  You did not wish for any artifacts

Latest messages
  What do you want to sacrifice? [GS or ?*] 
  You offer the Amulet of Yendor to Set...
  An invisible choir sings, and you are bathed in radiance...
  The voice of Set thunders: "Congratulations, mortal!"
  "In return for thy service, I grant thee the gift of Immortality!"
  You ascend to the status of Demigod...

Goodbye fuzzynerd the Demigod...
You went to your reward with 4886022 points,
Stormbringer (worth 8000 zorkmids and 20000 points)
The Heart of Ahriman (worth 2500 zorkmids and 6250 points)
      12 rubies (worth 42000 zorkmids),
       8 topaz stones (worth 7200 zorkmids),
       8 garnet stones (worth 5600 zorkmids),
       6 jacinth stones (worth 19500 zorkmids),
       6 aquamarine stones (worth 9000 zorkmids),
       6 jet stones (worth 5100 zorkmids),
       6 chrysoberyl stones (worth 4200 zorkmids),
       6 jasper stones (worth 3000 zorkmids),
       5 diamonds (worth 20000 zorkmids),
       5 sapphires (worth 15000 zorkmids),
       5 opals (worth 4000 zorkmids),
       5 amethyst stones (worth 3000 zorkmids),
       5 jade stones (worth 1500 zorkmids),
       4 turquoise stones (worth 8000 zorkmids),
       4 agate stones (worth 800 zorkmids),
       2 emeralds (worth 5000 zorkmids),
       2 fluorite stones (worth 800 zorkmids),
       2 obsidian stones (worth 400 zorkmids),
       1 citrine stone (worth 1500 zorkmids),
       1 amber stone (worth 1000 zorkmids),
       2 amulets of life saving (worth 300 zorkmids),
       1 amulet of ESP (worth 150 zorkmids),
       1 amulet of unchanging (worth 150 zorkmids),
and 773 pieces of gold, after 128897 moves.
Killer: ascended
You were level 24 with a maximum of 326 hit points when you ascended.

You reached the 1688th place on the top 2000 list.

 No  Points     Name                                                   Hp [max]
 1688    4886022  fuzzynerd-Bar-Orc-Mal-Cha ascended to demigod-hood.  319 [326]

2009 Retrospective

2009-12-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

I was recently asked to list some of my recent adventures. Forming this list made me realize how great a year 2009 has been for me. As my health has improved, my life has accelerated. I do more in less time. I live more densely. Two years ago, I couldn't have done many these things. I wasn't physically or mentally capable. Most of my college friends wouldn't recognize me now. Alice tells me it's The Saturn Return.

I travelled.

Drank a two-foot margarita in Las Vegas.
Drove a lover to Portland by UHaul, and said goodbye.
Talked to an aspiring artist at 2am on the Starlight Express.
Spent 30 consecutive days away from home.
Ate at a pig roast in Upstate New York. Attended my 10-year high school reunion.
Had my first straight-razor shave and shoe-shine in New York City.
Drank beer on a Pittsburgh roof during the G20 summit. Watched the helicopters swarm.
Learned how to read a subway map in Cambridge, MA.
Spoke broken French in St. Martin. Vous avez des oeufs?
Swam naked in the Caribbean with a lover.

And saw beautiful things.

Watched the Santa Cruz Mountains burn.
Watched the Sooty Shearwater migration from a sunset cruise.
Sailed under the golden gate bridge.

And visited important American landmarks.

the world's largest thermometer
Alien Fresh Jerky
The Santa Cruz Mystery Spot
Randy's Donuts
The Giant Artichoke

I went to shows.

Phish
Infected Mushroom
Nine Inch Nails

And events.

I embraced my inner hippie.

Hot-tubbed with middle-aged hippies at two nudist retreats.
Spent a night at a commune in Santa Cruz.
Partied at an intentional community in Sunnyvale.
Slept on a cot at the "spirit house" on a mountain in Woodacre. Snuggled by the fire in a yurt.
Slept in my car at Clear Lake.
Bought most of my clothes from thrift-stores.

And my inner yuppie.

Got promoted.
Had Dinner at Ad Hoc, Millenium, the Melting Pot, and La Fondue.
Had backstage passes to Wicked at the Orpheum. Touched the props.
Had VIP tickets to my first Cirque du Soleil show. Felt like a rockstar.
Had VIP tickets to the Defying Inequality benefit. Gave $1100 to repeal prop 8.

And I celebrated those contradictions.

Drank Veuve Clicquot with Babybel.
Drank sparkling wine with trail mix.
Drank good wine in plastic cups.
Drank Charles Shaw in glass stemware.
Wore my blazer with jeans. And looked good.

I drove.

24,000 miles.
Upgraded tires and brakes.
Did horribly at my first autocross at the Marina airport.
Practiced on go-karts.
Did respectably at my first track day at Thunderhill.
Broke my second windshield at Big Sur.

I took up photography.

Bought a camera.
Learned how to use it.
Bought a flash and gels.
Learned how to use them.
Dated a photographer.
Shot a wedding.

And I enjoyed watersports.

Windsurfed.
Kayaked.
Jet-skiied.
Parasailed.
Snorkeled.
Got peed on.

I improved my health.

Found good meds for my head.
Found good meds for my gut.
Exercised.
Dieted.
Lost 30 pounds.

I had many firsts.

Lit road flares.
Ate fondue.
Stopped to pick up roadkill.
Shot a gun.
Got kicked off the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.
Got kicked out of a parking lot for doing donuts.

And I fell in and out of love.

Repaired the most important friendship in my life.
Drove a lover to Portland by UHaul, and said goodbye.
Lost myself in new love for 6 months. Forgot the world. Broke up without tears.
Lost myself in new love for 6 weeks. Broke my heart. Full-bodied weeping.
Reconnected with an old flame.

archaeologist ascension

2009-12-23T17:29:00.000-08:00


fuzzynerd, neutral male human Archeologist




                                   ---------
                                   |.......|
            -----                  |.......|                  -----
             ...|                  |..._...|                  |...
     ---------..--                 |.......|                 --..---------
     |.....%%|...--             |  |.......|  |             --..%|.......|
     |..a.'@%|....---           |. ----|---- .|            --....|%......|
     |...@.@A)O`..Ja            |.............|           %-%....%..._...|
     |......%|....---           ---.........---       % %)---....|.......|
     |....%.@|...--               -----.-----         %  -- --...|%...%..|
     ---------..--      -%--           .%..--       -|----   --..---------
             ...|          -------     .....-- -----   |      |...
            -----         %......|     %..$%.|         |      -----
                          ----"..--    %....--%  ------
                             |....--   ..%%--
                             ---..%----|----%% -
                                ....        %
                                --------------

Fuzzynerd the Speleologist St:25 Dx:18 Co:18 In:22 Wi:22 Ch:14 Neutral S:1980685
Astral Plane $:0  HP:260(283) Pw:79(157) AC:-38 Xp:22/20107594 T:80678

Final attributes
  You were the Envoy of Balance
  You were piously aligned
  Your alignment was  413
  You were fire resistant
  You were cold resistant
  You were sleep resistant
  You were shock resistant
  You were poison resistant
  You were magic-protected
  You saw invisible
  You were telepathic
  You had automatic searching
  You were invisible to others
  You were stealthy
  You caused conflict
  You had slower digestion
  You were protected
  You were very fast
  You had reflection
  You were wielding two weapons at once
  You were extremely lucky (13)
  You had extra luck
  Bad luck did not time out for you
  Good luck did not time out for you
  You survived after being killed  once
  3437 creatures vanquished.

Genocided or extinct species:
  hobbits
  dwarves
  bugbears
  dwarf lords
  dwarf kings
  mind flayers
  master mind flayers
  liches
  demiliches
  master liches
  arch-liches
  erinyes (extinct)
  11 species genocided.
 1 species extinct.

Voluntary challenges
  You genocided 11 types of monsters
  You never polymorphed an object
  You changed form 1 time
  You used 8 wishes

Latest messages
  The high priestess of Camaxtli points at you, then curses.
  There is an altar to Camaxtli (neutral) here.
  What do you want to sacrifice? [u or ?*] 
  You offer the Amulet of Yendor to Camaxtli...
  An invisible choir sings, and you are bathed in radiance...
  The voice of Camaxtli rings out: "Congratulations, mortal!"
  "In return for thy service, I grant thee the gift of Immortality!"
  You ascend to the status of Demigod...

Goodbye fuzzynerd the Demigod...
You went to your reward with 4160470 points,
The Orb of Detection (worth 2500 zorkmids and 6250 points)
Magicbane (worth 3500 zorkmids and 8750 points)
      12 citrine stones (worth 18000 zorkmids),
      11 amber stones (worth 11000 zorkmids),
      11 amethyst stones (worth 6600 zorkmids),
      10 emeralds (worth 25000 zorkmids),
       8 rubies (worth 28000 zorkmids),
       8 opals (worth 6400 zorkmids),
       7 chrysoberyl stones (worth 4900 zorkmids),
       7 jasper stones (worth 3500 zorkmids),
       6 jacinth stones (worth 19500 zorkmids),
       5 sapphires (worth 15000 zorkmids),
       5 obsidian stones (worth 1000 zorkmids),
       5 jade stones (worth 1500 zorkmids),
       4 diamonds (worth 16000 zorkmids),
       4 black opals (worth 10000 zorkmids),
       3 agate stones (worth 600 zorkmids),
       2 dilithium crystals (worth 9000 zorkmids),
       2 aquamarine stones (worth 3000 zorkmids),
       2 garnet stones (worth 1400 zorkmids),
       1 turquoise stone (worth 2000 zorkmids),
       1 jet stone (worth 850 zorkmids),
       1 fluorite stone (worth 400 zorkmids),
       1 amulet of change (worth 150 zorkmids),
       1 amulet of unchanging (worth 150 zorkmids),
       1 amulet of reflection (worth 150 zorkmids),
and 0 pieces of gold, after 80678 moves.
Killer: ascended
You were level 22 with a maximum of 283 hit points when you ascended.

       4160470  fuzzynerd-Arc-Hum-Mal-Neu ascended to demigod-hood.   260 [283]

Wicked

2009-12-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

Backstage passes to Wicked at the Orpheum. The show was great, and the behind-the-scenes magic was astounding.

Insalata Caprese

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

One of my favorites. And with my new metabolism, this is a meal. This one was from Il Fornaio in San Jose.

a cure for the common breakup

2009-11-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

c-ares contributions

2009-11-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

I was credited in the c-ares 1.7.0 release notes. Very minor changes, but it's nice to be contributing to the open source community again.

Thanks go to these friendly people for their efforts and contributions:

Phil Blundell, Japheth Cleaver, Yang Tse, Gregor Jasny, Joshua Kwan,
Timo Teras, Jakub Hrozek, John Engelhart, Larry Lansing

Review: Millenium Restaurant

2009-11-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

View Larger Map
I had a wonderful dinner with someone special at Millenium Restaurant, my first experience with vegetarian fine dining. We opted for the "November Harvest" four-course fixed menu. I found the food generally tasty, the wine-pairings pleasing, and the portions well-sized. I was nonplussed by the gnocchi, which cried out for a softer and wetter texture, and perhaps a richer sauce. The tables were squeezed too close together, leading to an unfortunate water bottle mishap. The steep price did nothing to discourage their patrons, even during a recession--the place was still packed at 9PM. Overall verdict? I would go back if it were cheaper. At the same price, my beloved Ad Hoc seems a bargain, with better food, service, and ambiance, and they are quite happy to accommodate vegetarians and vegans. But that's not really apples to apples, since Ad Hoc is in Yountville.

Anyhow, quite a delightful evening, filled with mischievous flirting and banter, and a few inappropriate conversation topics for such a crowded room. We left the city relaxed and comfortably full.

The Aging of Facebook

2009-11-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

Check out the year-over-year change in Facebook's age demographics. Mom and grandma have crashed the party. In the last year, the overwhelming majority of Facebook's user growth was in the older-than-30 age bracket. In 2008, this group was a tiny fraction of Facebook's user base. Now it represents about half of the user population. The effects of this on the character of the Facebook social experience will be fascinating to watch. (Fascinating like a slow-motion train-wreck, if I had to guess.)

This data was sourced from Facebook's public advertising front-end, and was compiled into chart-form by one of my coworkers.

Mark I. Chester: slide show and gallery tour

2009-11-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

[NSFW]: ALL links in this post are NOT safe for work.

I had the distinct privilege of spending my Wednesday evening with Kemi and Michelle at an invite-only exhibition of Mark Chester's fine art sexual photography. Mark treated us to a slideshow of his work, while narrating stories of the gay counterculture movement of the 1980s. He gave his first-hand account of the Folsom Street Fire of 1981 that left his half-burned bedroom open to the street and ransacked by police and firefighters. He talked of the friends and lovers he lost to the AIDS epidemic, showing pictures of many. Powerful stories.

All of his exhibited photographs were erotic, but the most striking of these combined eroticism with displays of intense human weakness and vulnerability. A man with AIDS, covered in lesions, a few months before his death. Another man whose right hand was necrotized from a blood clot. Both with hard dicks, smiling for the camera, intensely human. Powerful pictures.

I bought each of us a signed hardcover of his last book, Diary of a Thought Criminal.

While on Folsom Street, we stopped by Wicked Grounds, a newly-opened kinky coffee shop. I met the owners at a party several months ago, where they talked excited about their plans to open the store. I was thrilled to see that store is open, and business seems to be booming. Where else, but San Francisco?

Tortuga Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Spookfest

2009-10-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

An electronica show at Cow Palace with Crystal Method headlining, Infected Mushroom later in the evening, and co-ed boxing and amateur pro-wrestling in a side room to entertain us while the other acts played. A very chilly wait in the queue outside became much more interesting when the girls (early 20's) in front of us decided they needed more warmth than their corsets and skirts could provide. Hilarity ensued. Money quote: "You're so lucky, you have a MAN!" Surreal occurrence of the evening: While I was flailing around for the beat, someone placed a plastic Darth Vader helmet placed on my head. We had to get up very early the next morning, so we left long before Infected Mushroom got to the stage. I'm glad I got to see them over the summer.

Defying Inequality

2009-10-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

Kemi took me to the Defying Inequality benefit, held to raise money for repealing Prop 8. It was a great show, and her VIP tickets got us into the after-party with the cast. I had way too much fun at the silent auction, walking away with $1,100 of goodies and a much lighter conscience.

Still Life

2009-10-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Hunter Safety Course

2009-10-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

A hunter safety course at the Richmond Rod and Gun Club. Kemi's fault. I have much love for my weird friends and my weird life.

Burning Man Decompression 2009

2009-10-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

Boston -> St. Maarten

2009-10-02T05:51:00.001-07:00

Woo. Caribbean time.

BOS to JFK via JetBlue 1003
JFK to SXM via JetBlue 787

Enormous Room

2009-09-26T09:55:00.001-07:00

Dear proprietors of The Enormous Room martini bar,

There is no sign on your building, save for a red elephant stencil on a nondescript door hidden behind an adjacent business' storefront. Also, your room is not enormous.

Pittsburgh -> Cambridge

2009-09-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

Pittsburgh to Boston via JetBlue 1294

ATM card saga continues

2009-09-24T10:16:00.001-07:00

And as expected, an hour after canceling the lost-in-the-mail card, the card appears. There is no way to uncancel the card.

FedEx fail

2009-09-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

The best laid plans...

My ATM card was lost in transit between Seattle and Pittsburgh. FedEx says they left it on the porch where I am staying, but I never saw the envelope. I cancelled the new card and had a replacement expedited to Cambridge, where I will be staying next week. With luck it will arrive before I leave the country for a week, next Friday.

Meanwhile, I have a dollar twenty-five in quarters, and no way to withdraw cash from an ATM. I dearly hope that taxis at the Boston airport will accept credit cards.

I'm surprisingly unconcerned with this development. Somehow, I trust that things will work out for the best. There's always Western Union, in a pinch.

ALB->PIT

2009-09-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

ALB to NYP via Amtrak
NYP to JFK via LIRR/Airtrain
JFK to PIT via JetBlue 1054

Travel from 10am to 6pm. Long day.

10-Year High School Reunion

2009-09-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

high school reuinion

2009-09-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

NYP to ALB via amtrak 283
My high school reunion tonight. Yay.

Today is calista's birthday. I paid for her to have a pedicure and footrub this morning. While she was occupid, I had a shave and a haircut at a nearby barber shop. My first straight razor shave. Extraordinarily indulgent. ItLs a good thing I don't live in new york, I don't think my wallet could handle survive the barber habit I would surely acquire.

Earth Class Mail FTW

2009-09-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today I received an e-mail from my bank.

It's important you activate your new ATM/Debit card immediately. Your old card will be deactivated on September 22, 2009 at 12 AM ET, regardless of whether your new card has been activated.

Uh-oh. I'm not at home. I'm in New York City this week, Pittsburgh next week, Cambridge the week after, and the Caribbean the week after that. But I'll definitely need that ATM card.

Thankfully, I have Earth Class Mail. If the card had arrived at my home, I would have had to ask one of my roommates to ship it to me. Instead, with a few clicks, I create a FedEx shipment to the address in Pittsburgh where I will be staying. No roommates to bother.

Fluffy

2009-09-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

Turns out my hotel is half a mile from Penn Station. I walked.

I wandered 5 or 6 blocks from the hotel in either direction. I had a slice of real New York pizza, eventually landing in an Irish pub called The Blarney Stone. One of the bartenders was Asian, so I'm not sure how Irish it really was.... Ended up talking to a expressive black woman named Fluffy, who works as a bartender at Giants stadium. She was awesome and hilarious, and gave me some measure of faith in humanity. I bought her a drink. I had a few drinks myself (probably one too many), then grabbed another slice of pizza on my way back to the hotel.

As much as I hate the east coast, I think I missed it a little bit. Especially the pizza.

2009-09-13T11:09:00.001-07:00

ALB to NYP via Amtrak,
NYP to Manhattan via cab or subway, haven't decided yet.

I've never been terribly comfortable in New York. Hoping this time will be different.

flying east

2009-09-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

SJC to LGB on JetBlue 221,
LGB to JFK on JetBlue 206,
JFK to ALB via rental car.

It's going to be a long day. I'll get into troy after midnight.

Gel Holder

2009-09-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today I designed a gel holder for myCalista's Nikon SB-600 that should be compatible with any shoe-mount flash. I think it will fit under my softbox, too.

Documentation:
1 x http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_band +
2 x http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binder_clip = win.

Patent pending.

San Mateo County Fair

2009-08-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not particularly proud of any of the pictures in this set, but right now my urge to scrapbook is overpowering my critical eye.

While shooting in the petting zoo, a goat licked the side of my lens. Do you think that voids the warranty?

Fire in the Hills

2009-08-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

A uniquely California experience: standing on a gorgeous beach watching a wildfire in the hills, listening to the waves and the seagulls... and the rapping hippies...

The Lockheed fire is the biggest in Santa Cruz County in 20 years, and has forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. Luckly nobody has been hurt and (so far) no homes have burned.

Philz Coffee

2009-08-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

We had our afternoon coffee at Philz before driving to the forest fire. Normal couples have morning coffee, but we're not so good at mornings. And sane couples would drive away from a forest fire, not toward it, but that's just how we roll.

This lovely woman was serenading us at the coffee shop. I can't say I was thrilled with her music, but the light was too pleasant to pass up the chance to sneak a shot with my 70-200mm f/2.8. Actually, "sneak" is probably the wrong word for something the size of a football.

Pasta Moon

2009-08-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

Thank you Alexis for recommending Pasta Moon. The food was delicious and the service was excellent.

Phish at Shoreline

2009-08-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

Saw Phish at Shoreline with Calista. The place was packed. Lots of dreadlocks, patchouli, and pot. Great time.

Adventurecat Cruise

2009-08-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

Went on a sunset cruise. Pics coming soon.

Wedding Photography

2009-08-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Shot a wedding with Nori. More pictures coming soon.

2009 Crucible Fire Arts Festival

2009-07-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Infected Mushroom

2009-07-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

Please enjoy my shitty phone-camera picture and video of Friday night's Infected Mushroom show.

As expected, they rocked. The crowd was still shouting for more at the end of the third encore.

As is my usual style, I overexerted myself, and then felt like shit for the next few days. I think it was worth it.

photo/video storage and backup recommendation

2009-07-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

For a large bulk archive:

Onnto DataTale 4-Bay RAID System w/Quad Interface:
http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/RS-M4QO.html
Simple unmanaged FW800 RAID. Just works. I've had good luck so far.
$380

4x Seagate ST31500341AS Barracuda 7200.11
$130 each = $520

Benchmarks of this combination:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=r6AbEE-_mVjw4xA1uGHeaAg&gid=0

So $900 for 4.5TB of RAID5 bulk storage that outperforms your laptop's
drive, and might outperform your desktop's drive. Fast enough over
FW800 that you can do your edits right on the array, rather than
copying back and forth. If you have an SSD, you might want to do the
copying anyway. You can check out my XBench benchmark results to see why.

But RAID isn't a backup. How do you back up 4.5TB of stuff?

Quad Interface FireWire 800/400/USB 2.0/eSATA - SATA I/II Hard Drive Docking Bay
http://www.newertech.com/products/voyagerq.php
Just got this today, haven't had a chance to evaluate.
$100

Use the same 1.5TB Seagate drives as backup disks. Keep a few
off-site. Should a drive in the array fail, you can repurpose one of
your old backup disks as a replacement for the dead drive.

I think what I've outlined above should be pretty close to the current
price/performance sweet-spot for FW800 storage and backups.
Everything has been dead-simple so far, and hasn't involved anywhere
near the amount of tinkering I had to do with my NAS. If the docking
bay behaves as expected, I'm a very happy camper. Any suggestions for
improvement, or am I spot-on?

color calibration eats babies

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

I want six hours of my life back.

The windows on the top are Lightroom. The window on the bottom is Finder. The image was color-corrected in Lightroom to have pretty golden colors. In Finder, it takes on a reddish hue.

Approximate sequence of events:

N weeks ago: calibrated monitor with USB calibration device A
Rebooted computer.
2 days ago: calibrated monitor with USB calibration device B. Did not notice a visible change. No reboot.
Restarted Lightroom.
Color-corrected image to have golden tones.
Saw icky color disparity between Lightroom and finder.

The problem is 3). The calibration device is broken or confused. It has lost the ability to properly calibrate the color red. After calibration, red is rendered as a lovely shade of the color puke. No visible change was noticed after calibration because there was no red on the screen.

The computer booted with a correct color profile. Finder loaded this correct profile on startup, when first logging into the machine. Lightroom loaded the busted profile on startup, and the new busted profile was used for color-correcting. Finder was still running with the old correct profile, so it rendered the colors differently. Relaunching Finder caused it to load the new busted profile, displaying the same golden tones as Lightroom.

Red herring: Photoshop CS 3's "Save for Web" preview renders the image in a color profile that doesn't seem to be sRGB and doesn't seem to be the monitor's color profile. This threw me for a loop for a while. Internet sleuthing showed that lots of people rant about this preview display. Decided to ignore Photoshop for now.

Take-away:
Sanity-check the results of your monitor calibration against another machine, either uncalibrated or calibrated with a different device. A perfect match isn't going to happen, but you should see something in the right ballpark.

Relaunch all applications (including Finder) after changing the monitor color profile. Rebooting gives some additional peace of mind.

iPhoto sucks, PicasaWeb sorta sucks

2009-07-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

When I was shooting with my D40, I did my post-processing in iPhoto.
I saw very washed-out colors when I uploaded jpegs to picasaweb.
Since then, I purchased a D700 and I've been shamed into using real
editing software. Now I'm using Capture NX 2 for editing.

Tinkering I've discovered or verified:

Unless told otherwise, Nikon DSLRs create RAWs and jpegs with the "Nikon sRGB" color space.
iPhoto generates jpegs with the "Generic RGB" color space.
Picasaweb strips color profiles from images.
When saving jpeg from Capture NX 2 _with_ an ICC color profile and viewing with PhotoMechanic:

There is no perceptible difference between an sRGB jpeg and my "Nikon sRGB" reference image.
My "Generic RGB" test image has faded highlights and _less_ vivid color than my "Nikon sRGB" reference image.
My "Adobe RGB" test image has faded highlights and _more_ vivid color than my "Nikon sRGB" reference image.

When saving JPEG from Capture NX 2 with or without an ICC color profile and viewing in picasaweb:

There is no perceptible difference between a non-ICC sRGB jpeg and my "Nikon sRGB" reference image.
My non-ICC "Generic RGB" test image has _much_ darker highlights than my "Nikon sRGB" reference image.
My non-ICC "Adobe RGB" test image has _much_ less vivid color than my "Nikon sRGB" reference image.

Conclusion:

iPhoto is generating jpegs in a non-sRGB color space that looks substantially different when rendered as sRGB. Fail.
Picasaweb strips color profiles from images, causing them to be rendered as sRGB even in colorspace-aware browsers like Safari. Fail. But at least behavior is consistent across all browsers.
Don't use iPhoto if you want to put your images on the web. Outside of Safari, your images will look like crap.
Only use Picasaweb with sRGB images. Images in any other color space will look like crap.

Shearwater Migration

2009-07-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

A sunset cruise on the Chardonnay in Santa Cruz was (accidently) well timed to coincide with an amazing occurrence. Every summer millions of sooty shearwaters visit the coast of California, part of their record-holding 39,000 mile annual migration. They gorge themselves to the point of barely being able to fly. Apparently some years (because of contaminated fish) they get 'drunk', lose control and crash into buildings, cars and people. Legend has it Alfred Hitchcock witnessed this phenomenon while living in Capitola and was inspired to write the movie The Birds.

Independence Day

2009-07-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

Spent the fourth drinking beer with friends. Someone brought a cute baby. He stole the show.

Driving to Portland

2009-06-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

I spent this weekend helping a friend move to Portland. We packed the U-Haul Friday night then drove it up on Saturday. The drive took us about 14 hours, including stops for food and gas. We arrived in Portland around midnight, by which time exhaustion and caffeine had turned me into a jittery zombie. I slept fitfully.

We had professional movers unload the U-Haul on Sunday morning. While they navigated the two flights of stairs, I dozed like a cat near her apartment's bay windows. We spent the rest of the morning exploring the city, and had a snack at Backspace Cafe.

I took Amtrak's "coastal starlight" back to the bay. Slow (20 hours), but much more civilized than flying. I spent hours post-processing photos while sipping from a flask of tequila. Later I wandered the train, had dinner, and eventually found myself in a late-night conversation with a young graphic artist with dreams of working for Pixar. She showed me her work, and I showed her some of my photos. I wandered back to my seat and somehow managed to sleep in the tiny bunk, my face a few inches from the ceiling. I suppose submarines are like that, but worse.

It took until Thursday before my body regained its circadian rhythm and I felt like a normal human being again. Seeing my friend off properly was worth the lost sleep. I'd do it again.

What happens in Vegas...

2009-06-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

...goes on my blog.

Kemi was in Las Vegas this week for a conference, and invited me to join her for the weekend. I had never been to Vegas. I was happy to finally have an excuse to make the trip.

People drive fast near Las Vegas. The speed limit goes up to 75, and "driving with traffic" can mean doing 100 in the left lane.

People drive like idiots on the Vegas strip. Someone in a pickup truck tried to take a right turn into my lane. While I was in it. Perhaps he expected traffic to stop while he merged, I'm not sure. Rather than slam on the brakes, I moved left as his car pulled adjacent to mine, half a car length ahead. Unfortunately, there was a car to my left, half a car length behind. Before things got too cozy, the car to my left slammed on its brakes, screeching loudly, making an exchange of insurance information unnecessary. My car narrowly escaped Las Vegas unscathed.

Everyone says Las Vegas is like Disneyland for grown-ups. The strip reminded me more of Times Square than Disneyland, but far less crowded. And people carried their booze openly, rather than in brown paper bags. And Times Square doesn't have stripper/escort/hooker cards:

Seeing posh casinos like The Bellagio in the movies didn't quite prepare me for the real thing. (Quelle surprise!) First of all, the movie casinos don't have a haggard-looking Latino cleaning staff. Second, the real casinos are much more welcoming than their movie counterparts. Sure, there are some trim and sexy people in swank suits and dresses. But there are many more ordinary folk. Women tottering ineptly around in heels they don't know how to wear. Overweight, poorly-dressed men with bad hair. Old women spending their social security checks on the slots. All equally welcome in a palace with an presumptuous name like "The Bellagio." Walking around uncomfortably in such glitz and splendor, I kept looking over my shoulder for the security guard who would tell me I was trespassing. He never appeared.

I'm very happy with my photos from the trip. I started with 300-400, and culled the set down to my favorite 30. This one is my favorite:

Narrow depth of field gives the feeling of depth. Repeating shapes
form lines of perspective into the distance. The babies, sure. But
also some neat triangles-within-triangles, from the seams in the glass
and the border between plastic bins. Reflections in the glass: the
mirror image of the babies, and the women looking into the display.
(Mother and daughter?) Little bokeh-balls floating in the top of the
frame. The racial mix of babies. And the uncanny-valley creepiness
of the whole scene.

Hrm. I think I'm repeating myself:

And I think I'm getting better at post-processing. I didn't get the
hang of manipulating contrast until a couple weeks ago. Makes a big
difference.

Macbook IO Benchmark

2009-06-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

External RAID5 Enclosure:
Oyen Digital RS-M4QO
4x Seagate ST31500341AS Barracuda 7200.11

External SSD:
Oyen Digital EB2-S
1x Intel X25-M SSD

XBench benchmark results

Conclusions:

eSATA is ~50% faster than FW800 for large block size reads and writes on RAID5, and large block size reads on the SSD. It's worth picking up an eSATA card if you want peak performance from fast external storage.

A consumer-grade 4-disk RAID5 array can hold its own against an SSD for sequential access, but is much slower for random access. It's worth making your boot drive an SSD, but not worth paying for an SSD for (say) video editing.

If you RAID your SSDs, you have too much money.

GoogleServe - Science is Fun IV

2009-06-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, 60 Google employees volunteer to help RAFT package science kits for schools. RAFT is Resource Area for Teachers, a Silicon Valley non-profit that provides K-12 teachers with materials to teach math, science, art, and technology in fun and creative ways.

Maker Faire

2009-05-31T15:00:00.000-07:00

Star Trail Time Lapse

2009-05-30T02:04:00.000-07:00

I started with this picture, taken two weeks ago:

I loved the colors, but obviously should have been standing in a better place. I went back a few nights ago, and grabbed this much cleaner shot of the same ride, this time from the other side:

Then I decided to set up a time lapse of 13 second exposures, every 20 seconds, so that I could watch the stars move. I managed to snag only 43 frames before boardwalk security found us, and kicked us out. And fog rolled in, right in the middle. But the video drips with potential, and makes me want to go back and get kicked out a few more times:

I also want to tear down the metal guard rail around the ride. :(

Nine Inch Nails

2009-05-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

I caught a show from the Nine Inch Nails / Jane's Addiction tour at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in May, and finally got around to posting my pictures. Unlike most bands, Nine Inch Nails has a very permissive photography policy, and allows DSLRs with lenses of reasonable size and stature. I got my D700 and 50mm f/1.4G past security without a problem, but they confiscated the beach blanket that I brought to sit on. (What the hell?) We were standing way too far away for such a short lens, so the pictures are nothing special. I like everyone's heads lit up by the stage lights, at least.

This was my first show in a long time. I went with Calista and her friends Nicole, Dan, and Camelia. We drank overpriced beer, shoved our way through the mob of fans, and claimed some territory on the lawn. (Cheap tickets.) To my surprise, most people with lawn seats stayed standing (and jumping, and dancing) throughout the show. This made sitting impossible (or at least dangerous) for anyone else. The show rocked, in spite of my sore feet.

Jane's Addiction was...odd. I hadn't listened to them since the 90's, but apparently they still have a pretty big following. I was surprised to discover that the lead singer is a flaming homo. As a homo-loving west-coast liberal, I mean this in the nicest possible way. But the man was pretty clearly gay. He told the crowd how big the drummer's cock was, and asked the drummer to show the crowd. (He didn't.) He told the crowd that they could take his corset over his dead body. (They didn't.) I think there may have been some drugs involved, as he also told the crowd how he wanted to transform them into animals with his Wicca magic. He said dolphins wouldn't work, since we were so far from water. (We were maybe 1-2 miles from the bay.) And he kept saying, "Hello, San Francisco!" (This was in Mountain View, a good 45 minutes south of San Francisco.)

A memorable night, for sure.

Coastal Wandering

2009-05-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Big Basin Hike

2009-04-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

Cloudy San Gregorio

2009-04-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

I made a new friend this weekend.

Coyote Point

2009-04-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

Satuday at Shoreline Kite Park and Coyote Point, then an indulgent dinner at The Melting Pot.

Harbin

2009-04-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

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Celebrated the end of 2009Q1 by driving to Harbin with Kemi. People at Kiva continually mention how nice it is, and I'm glad to say it didn't disappoint. We enjoyed the hot tubs, steam room and massages, and then admired the spectacular mountain scenery for a while. I hope to go back in the very near future for camping.

power kiting: ur doing it wrong

2009-03-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

I bought a 2-meter quad-line power kite, to practice for kite surfing. I didn't do enough research before taking it to the park, and my typical learn-by-experimentation strategy failed me. I ruined my lines so badly that I had to throw them away. Replacements will arrive in a couple weeks.

I learned:

Bring kite stakes (or tent stakes), particularly when you are flying alone.
Tying knots on unsheathed spectra lines causes them to break. Don't do that.
Replacement lines cost $80.

tarte tatin: take 4

2009-03-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

She made tomato soup. I made dessert. While these simmered we opened my most fragrant bottle of olive oil, added fresh-cracked black pepper, and snacked on sourdough and brie.

My fourth attempt at tarte tatin was much more successful than the last three:

zoom-zoom

2009-03-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon, I didn't suck at go-karts:

Monza Hot Laps (2nd)

Monza Qualifying (1st)

Monza Race (1st)

Yokohama Hot Laps (1st)

shooting with Kemi

2009-03-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Spent part of Saturday at a shooting range with Kemi, firing 300-400 rounds with her 22. It was my first time firing anything bigger than a BB gun, but it seems I'm a decent shot.

From fuzzblog

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economic crisis for dummies

2009-03-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

Three episodes of This American Life, spaced 4-5 months apart, attempt to distill the economic crisis in layman's terms.

2008-05-09: The Giant Pool of Money

2008-10-03: Another Frightening Show About the Economy

2009-02-27: Bad Bank

Go-Kart Offsite

2009-03-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

A work-sponsored recreational event. I've been burning the candle at both ends for a few weeks, in order to meet an ambitious deadline. I desperately needed this chance to blow steam. That the offsite occurred the day of my deadline was sheer coincidence. Serendipity at work.

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For fun, I recorded a trail of my races with the "My Tracks" feature on my Android G1. The indoor GPS resolution was too poor for an accurate map, but did produce an impressive squiggle.

Things the Grandchildren Should Know

2009-02-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

Last night I started reading Things the Grandchildren Should Know, Mark Oliver Everett's autobiography. I finished it this afternoon. Enjoyed it almost as much as I enjoy his music. Well played, sir!

panic subsides

2009-02-21T19:09:00.000-08:00

From Alice at the Beach

Today I was kicked out of a large gravel parking lot. I was playing with my STI, practicing racing starts, doing donuts, and trying to burn up the clutch, tires, and brakes. Pushing the limits of the car was very educational. I intentionally spun out, finally developing a mental model of the effects of turning the wheel in the direction of the skid. I produced mighty clouds of dust, leaving wide dual arcs in the gravel, and attracting the odd glance from distant passers-by. After 20 minutes, a Mountain View park services worker drove toward me in his pickup truck. I rolled down my dust-caked window and greeted him. He politely informed me that the lot wasn't big enough for this sort of activity, and that I had to stop. (In my defense, the lot was enormous.) When I suggested that I was merely learning how to drive, he gave me the most incredulous look. I quickly corrected myself, stating that I was trying to learn "sport driving." Nonplussed, he informed me that the lot was private property. I asked if he knew any better places to practice. Sadly, he didn't. I thanked him, careful to call him "sir," then drove home.

Afterward, it occurred to me that I was not in the least bit nervous, panicked or scared. Not when my car was careening wildly out of control, and not when the figure of authority approached the scene of my transgression.

I think the medication is working.

painful no longer

2009-02-21T18:56:00.000-08:00

While cleaning out my closet today, I opened a box labeled "painful memories." It contained memories from high school that hurt to remember, but were too important to forget. Their lesson: "Never again." Looking through the box, while contemplating a temporary relocation to the fireplace, I found that the pain wasn't what it once was. I emptied both the "painful memories" box and the "memories" box, and with a brief game of real-life tetris placed the combined contents into their new wooden home. I shut the lid securely, then nestled the new posh box deep into my closet.

Painful memories no longer--just memories.

The Crisis of Credit

2009-02-20T04:10:00.000-08:00

Full Moon Craft Night

2009-02-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

A Hedwig Valentine

2009-02-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

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Celebrated Valentine's Day with Kemi by going to a screening of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Victoria theater. The show was hosted by John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote the screenplay and starred as Hedwig. He told funny stories and sang a few songs from the show. The audience adored him. (Not surprising--the man is beautiful, and his work is incredibly touching.) I may have been the only straight person in the whole theater. On the bright side, I was pleased to discover that gay men don't pee on toilet seats.

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After some difficulty extracting my car from the parking garage, we visited Mel's Drive-in for a snack on the way home. I love diners and their comfort-food. My current favorites are grilled cheese with tomato and avacado, and eggs benedict for breakfast. Sadly, diners are rare in the bay area.

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Lots of driving. My car is at nearly 9500 miles, four months after buying it. I see my car's mileage as a proxy metric for measuring how much "living" I'm doing. Each mile represents a date, a dinner, a vacation, a walk on the beach, a photo session, a party, or some other activity that gives meaning to my life. From 2003 to 2008, I put 30,000 miles on my Elantra, averaging less than 7000 miles each year (much less than the national average). I was sick, both physically and mentally, and as a result, I didn't "live" much. Last year, my health any my life improved substantially. At the rate I'm going, I'll have nearly 30,000 miles on the new car by the end of the first year of ownership. By this metric, I'm "living" about four times as much / as fast / better than I did between 2003 and 2008. Worth the carbon emissions, I think.

Kemi's Graduation

2009-02-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

full and rewarding day

2009-02-08T01:28:00.000-08:00

A morning date in Santa Cruz. Breakfast at the Saturn Cafe, followed by hottubs, sauna, and massage at Kiva.

An evening dinner in Yountville with Kemi, to celebrate her imminent graduation. (In the bay, adding "PhD" to your name doubles your sex-appeal.) We ate at Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc. It feels so wrong to get a same-day reservation for a Keller restaurant. The fixed menu is perfect for my unrefined palette, and the casual dress is just my speed. First course was empanadas, second was wagyu beef with potatoes and cauliflower, then a cheese course with MouCo Colorouge and marinated olives, and finally a dessert of lemon bars and biscotti. And a bottle blanc de blanc, since Kemi wanted something bubbly.

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I made it back home, one energy drink later, at 12:30AM, feeling totally and utterly spent. To explain my fatigue, I plugged my route into Google Maps. I drove 280 miles today, with an estimated 6 hours on the road. If I had been driving in one direction, I could have made it all the way to Los Angeles. At my STI's 20 miles/gallon, that's a full tank of gas. (I burn the gas your Prius saves.) I justify my environmental impact (poorly) by remembering being sick, and driving less than 7000 miles/year for 5 years. I lost so many years to illness, but I make up for it by living more and better today. If miles driven is any indication, I'm "living" about four times as much as I did in any previous year. Four times as many trips, dinners, vacations, parties, dates, and walks on the beach. Four times as much life. Worth the carbon, I think.

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a blissful weekend

2009-01-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

Drove down Route 1, Saturday morning, to spend a weekend in Monterey Bay with someone special. We stopped in Moss Landing, near Castroville, for deep-fried artichokes.

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After arriving in Monterey, we ditched the car at the hotel, then explored Cannery Row in the unseasonably warm weather. We soaked up sun, wandered beaches, snapped pictures, and took the obligatory aquarium tour. We grabbed a snack at a cafe, eventually meandering back to the hotel for check-in.

Bad experiences with two-star and four-star lodging had left me with a distaste for hotels in general. A particularly pleasant experience with a three-star near Phoenix made me realize that, as usual, I was doing it wrong. There's a happy medium between the Holiday Inn and the Westin, filled with reasonably-priced mom-and-pop outfits and cute bed-and-breakfasts that are much more my speed. On this trip, the Monterey Bay Inn did not disappoint.

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Our "park view" room did indeed overlook a park, but a partial ocean view came along for free. We watched the sunset warm the ocean with fiery hues until our bellies began to rumble.

Lack of planning led to a hungry and hurried walk through the downtown streets, searching for a restaurant with a reasonable vegetarian menu. After a few false starts, we finally stumbled upon the Paradiso Trattoria. Its vegetarian entrees included something called "polenta tower." We decided to give it a try.

Wine was great. Food was great. Service was excellent. The bill was reasonable. Serendipity made poor planning seem like genius. We ate and talked for hours, then wandered back to the hotel, to soak in a hottub under the stars.

Win.

da Vinci was a perv

2009-01-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

We shall discuss here the nature of the screw and of its lever, and how it [the screw] shall be used for lifting rather than for thrusting; and how it has more power when it is simple and not double, and thin rather than quick, when moved by a lever of the same length and force. We shall briefly discuss the many ways there are to use screws, the various types of endless [i.e. worm] screws, ... how the endless screw shall be combined with toothed wheels ... We shall examine the nature of their nuts ... We shall also speak of inverted screws and screws that by a single motion thrust and pull a weight, and screws which, by turning them only once, will rotate the nuts more than once. ... Their method of construction will also be discussed, how to put them to work ...

Leonardo da Vinci's introduction to the "Book of the elements of machines" (Trattato degli elementi macchinali, Madrid Ms. I, fol. 82r).

Apparently our new president has a very active sex-life.

2009-01-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

I must be 12 years old

2009-01-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

because I can't stop laughing.

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loldogs

2009-01-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

Kemi at Point Reyes

2009-01-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

Drove Kemi to Point Reyes for wine, cheese, and crackers at "someplace pretty." Ended up finding a nice state park. Drove around a bit, and eventually shot some portraits in the sunset. Found some cows on the way home. Shot more portraits with the cows, while occasionally chasing/spooking the cows for amusement. I am a bad person.

Ad Hoc

2009-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

I drove to Yountville today for dinner at Ad Hoc with a new girlfriend. It was a very ambitious gamble for a second date. Thankfully, it went very well. I need to work on curbing my enthusiasm on the first few dates, however. Pace is important. I've blown hundreds of dollars on ambitious first or second dates, only to discovery that we weren't good matches. It's a drag. Better to warm up slowly, giving both parties a chance to bail out gracefully, should things go south.

Pacifica / San Gregorio

2009-01-12T01:26:00.000-08:00

Alice at the Beach

2009-01-08T03:22:00.001-08:00