Back home July 31, 2006
Posted by Patrick in : Travel , 1 comment so farThe week and a half in the bay area and Phoenix were great. It was good to see friends Adrian and Jeremy. Here are some highlights of the trip (chronologically) :
- Jeremy works at Apple on Quiktime, so he gave me a tour of the Apple campus. It looks like a fun place to work at. I like the work culture in the San Jose area. It seems very relaxed. You’re allowed to wear anything you want and come and go as you please. For instance, one guy who works at Apple wears a dress to work. Another walks around barefoot all day. I couldn’t take any pictures of the place, but I saw the doors behind which the mighty iPod was forged.
- We went to Santa Cruz beach and went bodysurfing. The water was the warmest that Jeremy has ever remembered. It was probably in the high 60’s. The waves were large, rough, and fun.
- We then met Jeremy’s friend Claire at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. It was my first experience with Redwoods. They were amazing. Later we ate dinner at a very tasty and unique Italian place, Ciao Bella.
- The next day, I toured San Francisco with Adrian. It was my first trip to the city and I loved it. It was great to see how the bay area caters to cyclists. Many of the roads have bike lanes. We visited Amoeba, and I bought Palace Music’s Viva Last Blues and the Mountain Goats’ We Shall All Be Healed. For dinner, we ate a tasty German place. I forget the name.
- Watched the A’s lose to the Red Sox on Monday night. The stadium reminded me of Three Rivers.
- Finally finished The Old Man and the Sea. You would think a 100+ page book wouldn’t take me two months to read, but it did. It was alright. Very lonely and sad book.
- I won’t bore you (if I haven’t already) about the Microchip MASTERs conference. But it was a well-oiled machine. Very good conference at a beautiful place. The teaching and training was top notch with some very interesting classes on embedded software development.
- Read and finished Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be. Excellent book on the nature of sin. Five stars. I might write a little about this book later. And I started Steinbeck’s East of Eden since my mind was on sin.
- And finally as I was returning home yesterday, they asked for a volunteer to give up their seat for a free ticket. I couldn’t resist. Maybe I’ll be able to go to that conference in Minneapolis after all.
Off to San Fran July 21, 2006
Posted by Patrick in : Travel, Music , 2 commentsLater this evening, I leave for San Francisco. Tonight, I’m staying with a friend in Cupertino. Then, I stay with Adrian for a couple days. Anyone have any thoughts of what to see while I’m out there? I’ve never been there before.
Also, I checked out Girl Talk at Gooski’s last night. Pretty good show. And just as the little town of Pittsburgh would have it, I have some strange connections with the man. Someone should do a study on the three degrees of Pittsburgh.
Adobe Lightroom Beta now available July 19, 2006
Posted by Patrick in : Software , 1 comment so far
Sweet. Adobe Lightroom Beta is now available for Windows. And it’s residing on my computer. My friend Albert informed me about this software about a month ago. It’s supposed to handle RAW images well and have a very intuitive workflow design. Right now, I’ve been using Picasa and GIMP. But if the beta is as good as I think it is, I might bite the bullet in the future and purchase this.
Interesting Pitchfork news July 17, 2006
Posted by Patrick in : Pittsburgh, Music , add a commentPitchfork nominated a Pittsburgh-based soloist to the Best New Music category today - Girl Talk. I never heard of him. Here’s their little blurb:
Pittsburgh native Greg Gillis (Girl Talk) completely detonates the notions of mash-up, cramming this 40-minute mix with layered samples from more than 150 uncleared top 40 pop bangers, electro anthems, indie classics, yacht rock flashbacks, 80s metal cuts, and more. It’s an amazing premise: If even the best pop music has flaws, why not create a utopian soundworld where only the most spectacular moments exist?
Also, they posted an interview with David Byrne. I hope to read it later.
And that’s the truth, Ruth
Posted by Patrick in : Movies, Cycling , add a commentI finally saw Do the Right Thing with my friend Chad on Friday. My two good film buddies (Tim & Schwebs) always talked this movie up in college. I now see why. It’s a powerful and intense movie, with a great story and direction from Spike Lee. The movie made me think quite a lot how racism develops and cycles through generations and families. Wikipedia reports that Roger Ebert (I love the man even though he’s grown a little soft in his old age) said that it was “the only film to ever make him cry.”
And speaking of truth, my wheel is finally true. (How’s that for a title tying two completely different subjects together?) At least, it’s good enough for me. I stopped by Kraynick’s in Garfield to work on my wheel. He has every bicycle related tool under the sun. For me, this meant a truing stand. After two and half hours of tweaking spoke tension, I think my wheel’s at a good place. Unfortuantely, I stripped two of the nipples (spoke nuts!) on my spokes. So, I’ll probably have to replace the spokes next go around. Truing a wheel, I’m finding, is a very patient and slow process.
Kraynick’s never ceases to amaze me. Bike parts of every flavor from every era adorn that place from the floor to the ceiling (some sweet panorama shots of the shop). Six bike stands sit in the rear of the store. You don’t have to buy a thing at this place, and you can just go in the back and wrench on your bike as long as you want. In addition, you can tap Gerry’s (the store owner) mind endlessly. He’s extremely helpful and knowledgeable. And the weird thing I’m learning is that it seems that he’d rather have you learn how to fix your bike yourself, then let him do it. It’s really an amazing place.
Selfportraitr July 15, 2006
Posted by Patrick in : Photography , 1 comment so farThe Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York is doing an interactive gallery exhibition of self-portraits from flickr at their gallery and on the web. They suck in all photos from flickr that are tagged selfportrait and then some are later chosen as favorites. Eventually, they’re hoping to narrow down the pack to fifty images that they’ll eventually print. Somehow, my recent self-portrait that I needed to take for church made it in the favorites cut. I doubt it will go any further than that, because it’s rather simple and plain. Especially since most of the gallery favorties are amazing! But I was thrilled to be part of the cut nonetheless. To view the exhibition, go here. See if you can find mine. Since it was just added a few days ago, I’m still on the first page of the favorites window.
Here’s a little more description from the website:
Pace/MacGill Gallery and the School of Visual Arts’ graduate photography department are pleased to present an interactive exhibition of self-portraits drawn from Flickr.com, the online digital photo-sharing network. Flickr’s user base consists of over one million members who share images and image-related information. Two leading forces in the New York art world—-a major photography gallery and a top art school—-have joined together to observe this online conversation of image making. The mining and showcasing of this material strives to engage and expand a rapidly growing virtual arts community. The exhibition will be accessible to both viewers and contributors alike via the Pace/MacGill website www.pacemacgill.com. Pace/MacGill’s gallery space will house ten computers on which visitors can peruse the pictures gathered from numerous global photographers as they would online. A few monitors will display slideshows of images specifically collected via the gallery website.
30 hats from 30 teams July 14, 2006
Posted by Patrick in : Pittsburgh, Photography , 1 comment so farA burgher who went to the All Star game found each of the 30 major league teams represented amongst the fans. He took pictures of all of them, sporting their team’s hats, and made a set. Pretty cool.
New acquisition
Posted by Patrick in : Cycling , 2 comments
Maybe not as nice as Colin’s, but after a couple of months of looking, I acquired a new (at least for me) bike. After scouring various bike shops and different cities’ craigslists, a listing in Pittsburgh popped up a couple of weeks ago. It was for a 56cm entry level Cannondale. And for a good price too. It was exactly what I wanted. A 58cm might have been a tad better, but this one works out great. The shifting is real smooth. My body is still getting used to riding on a road bike. Positioning seems more important than a mountain bike. As a few people have told me, “Buying a mountain bike is like buying a T-Shirst - small, medium or large. Buying a road bike is like buying a tailored suit - it should fit you just right.”
Right now, the only problem with the bike is that the rear wheel got out of whack a few days ago. I was riding down the road and hit a pothole/metal grate. The rear tube blew out, along with the wheel’s trueness. I replaced the tube, but I think I screwed up the wheel even more when I tried to true it. One of the spokes feels broken. It might be time to take it to Kraynick’s.
Do you know where your checkbook is? July 13, 2006
Posted by Patrick in : Photography , add a comment
My checkbook has been missing for about a month now. This whole time, I thought I misplaced it somewhere around my bedroom. I’ve been pretty disorganized as of late. Unfortunately, no such luck. It’s been stolen.
I usually don’t carry my checkbook around. But I sometimes put it in my backpack when I bike or drive to church. I think it was earlier on a Sunday, June 11th. I biked to the strip district to catch a little breakfast. In my backpack, I had my camera, a couple books and some pens. Unbeknownst to me, I also had my checkbook. Seeing an Italian festival happening on 20th street, I stopped and took some of these photos. Since I just had books and pens in my bookbag, I chained it up with the rest of my bike. I think this is where it was probably stolen.
Hopefully, the perpetrator will be traced and found out. Does this handwriting look familiar?
Living la hora nica July 12, 2006
Posted by Patrick in : Friends, Reading , add a commentAndrea’s now in Nicaragua and blogging again! Andrea’s a good friend who’s working in Nicaragua with the hunger relief organization, Food for the Hungry. One of the best things to read was from her roommate’s blog. People seem to brighten up and come alive when they’re around Andrea. Her roommate is no different. She writes (sorry for some of the inside jokes):
My roommate Andrea is a trip. She is seriously one of the funniest people I know. One of the best things about living with her is that we both have this tendency to randomly break out into song after the other of us says anything remotely close to an existing song lyric.
These are some of the things she says regularly that I love.
1. “Seriously”
2. “Do you hate me?”
3. “Everything is fine” (especially in a high pitched voice after seing a cockroach)
4. “I hate feet”.
5. “I´m taking my boyfriend [meaning the fan] to bed with me”
6. “I love it!”Check out her blog. And keep up the writing Andrea!
