My friend Ben Sinclair got married on Saturday. We've known each other since AAFUGIT in Iowa, nearly a decade ago - hard to believe it's been that long.

Came across this monstrosity:


FlapDaddy

How awful!

The big 6-1. Wow. Still going strong. I hope you have a great day - sorry I didn't get you anything, though I nearly blew $900 on a gorgeous Tahitian pearl pendant for you - one golden pearl, the neatest looking thing, but I knew you would disown me if I ever did something like that. I've also been extremely busy (as you can probably tell from my blog). I missed Sam's birthday too, still need to make up for that one.

I'm sure you will have a good meal at that Chinese restaurant you always get to eat free at :-) Or at least some scrumptious donut holes (you know the kind I'm talking about).

Yay, long awaited:

Billiards and Angular Momentum

I think I will need to write a follow up to this one since there is so much to cover.

I despise missing deadlines, hate having things pile up. Part of the problem is my incessant commute to Honolulu and not being able to buy a car, not for lack of money, but for lack of a parking space. The commute adds up to 3 hours a day (if I factor in the waiting at bus stops part). Honestly though, I love working at the office, the people I work with are totally awesome, so even though I can telecommute, I'd rather endure the physical commute.

I have such a hard time working at my new house, which is ironic. I think I am just too comfortable or something. I sleep better here too. Oh well.

One of my students reviewed a site called FidoFinder, which is a national directory for lost and found dogs. Bookmark this site! I hate to see dogs running loose and afraid near busy streets, I hate to here about lost dogs. Dogs (who have the equivalent IQ of a 4 year-old human) are little frightened children when they are lost (truly lost and not happily exploring).

My best friends Sam and Steve have rescued 4 dogs now, one of which was a lost dog who was hit by a car (they bought her one of those baby playpens for her so she could recover in peace - she is doing very well now).

EDIT:

The very next student posted a review of petfinder.com, a site for pet adoption. Had to post that link as well!

I'm glad I banned my students from reviewing eBay and Amazon for the assignment - these are much more interesting.

Normally I don't blog about anything nearly so consumeristic, but we all gotta buy or barter fo stuff sooner or later (even the Amish). I'm very picky about where I shop, and I also hate, nay, *loathe* shopping.

For the longest time, Target was my go-to store for whatever (whatevahs). There are no Targets in Hawaii. Nada. Zilch. Nil. Target was where I always bought underwear. Knowing there were no Targets in Hawaii, I bought lots of underwear before I left. However, today I bought a fantastic pair of white linen cargo pants on clearance at Old Navy. It took me several years after they popped up everywhere to actually venture in one - I get intimidated thinking I don't fit the profile of the intended clientele. I continue to have the same problem with virtually every store in any mall. Anyway, white linen pants should never been worn with patterned or dark colored underwear (unless you want to show everyone in the known universe which freak flag you prefer to fly). So I was set on a quest for comfortable underwear that reasonably matched my skintone. Fashion note from someone not known for fashion: wear nude colors under white garments; white garments are inevitably somewhat transparent, and white on white really looks odd.

So I ventured into American Eagle Outfitters for the very first time, lured perhaps by the strains of "Young Folks" by Peter, Bjorn, and John. It felt a little young to me (though everyone I meet seems to think I'm a college student so I guess I can still get away with it). It's full of ordinary everyday casual apparel, but at the back of the store is a neat spinning dolly full of bins of loose underwear (wait, that doesn't sound quite right...) I never try on underwear in the store, so making a vague stab at size (every manufacturer sizes differently) I grabbed two different styles of hipster (guys are either boxer or brief, women are either hipster or thong, and you really can tell quite a bit from those preferences), in roughly the skin-copacetic colors I was looking for. I bought a T-shirt as well, and the bill only came to $14 so the store gets high marks on my frugality scale.

Once home, I tried on the underwear, and I must say, best friggin underwear on the planet! Soo comfy, fits right, doesn't snag against other fabrics (which I absolutely hate).

And yes, I just blogged about underwear. Sorry my little freak friends - no action shots on this one.

After hurting my ankle again (and hobbling everywhere), and being stressed out about deadlines, I've been feeling kind of pitiable. Anyway, I read some of the comments my students left me since this is the last week of class, and this one really brightened my spirits:

Here's My Rant

Personally, I found this class to be well constructed and presented. I believe that the pace and length is good for a working professional: not so fast that I felt unduly pressured, yet not so slow that I lost interest. There is quite a bit of information presented here, and I picked up quite a bit of useful knowledge concerning database construction.

Everything I knew about Relational Databases up to the point before I took this class was self-taught (mostly by playing around in Access and reading the Help Files). I had a basic understanding of relationships, how to create them, etc. Although I knew that a Relational Database was more efficient than a Flat-File Database, I didn't really understand the power of the Relational Model (Normalizing) until I took this class. They say that you only remember about 30% of what you learn in a class. If I can just remember the 30% about Normalization, I will count the cost of the class as money well-spent.

I would be remiss if I didn't give kudos to our instructor, Katharine Osborne. She was very patient, explained things in plain English, and took the time to answer all questions - even the ones that didn't directly relate to the course material. She was quick to offer help, I never felt that she was talking down to me and she seemed to check the posts often.

This was the first class I've taken here at eClasses.org. I found the experience to be pleasant, enlightening and very positive. The instructor was knowledgeable and patient. I will be back for more classes!

My eye twitch is back big time. That means I'm stressed out and not dealing with it (i.e. I'm in Scarlett O'Hara mode - "Tomorrow is another day," and "I'll never be hungry again!" stuff). Just needed to blog right now - part distraction, part rev up, part procrastination. I have so much crap to do - really badly behind on my column - yikes! So it's a good thing my hits have quintupled the past few weeks thanks to Google's generous kindness (peace be to Google). Plus I *have* to finish the poetry slam article - I think I've let it intimidate me so much that I became stuck on it. Also have to clean up the last remnants of class work, and prepare my new classes.

On top of all that, I have two new huge projects - one I can't talk about for NDA reasons (book related though), and one I can. I wanted to do at least one film project this summer. The one that is coming to fruition first is a music video for a musician friend of mine - we were buddies in high school - now he is working on his first CD. I stumbled across a choreographer and she knows lots of dancers. I have a general concept in place, and this thing is sort of forming of it's own accord. Very cool! If I am to break into filmmaking, I think directing is the easiest way for me to get to writing films. That just shows how incredibly difficult it is for writers to break into the business. It's sort of backward, but I think it is more fun this way anyway.

Sigh. I decided to telecommute today because I was feeling icky from not having eaten yesterday. So I also decided to get some home chores done as well, and as I brought a load of laundry down, my ankle gave out and I fell down the stairs!

I'm not badly injured, having fallen on a large pile of clothes, but my ankle is swelling up again, and now my other leg is sore too. In retrospect, I probably should have iced my ankle the first time I fell, but at least now I have a bag of peas in the freezer I can turn to.

Oh, yeah, don't even want to talk about that hospital bill - highway robbery! I'm going to submit my story to Micheal Moore's 'Sicko' movie group on YouTube.

Well, not the worst I've ever had, but between missing lots of buses, trying to get to my guild meeting on time (and getting in a good uphill hike from Waipahu to Waikele), and consuming only coffee and Advil all day, it was like a sock in the gut (in both metaphorical senses). Anyway, had my camera with me, and took some awful shots from the bus of solstice shadows (because the sun was directly overhead), and some better shots of Honolulu skyscraper construction. The latter are below for your viewing pleasure.

View Full Screen     View Photos on Kindfish

At lunch today, I went with my co-workers Nesan and Derrick to Nesan's apartment in the sky to consume leftover BBQ goodies. On the way over (walking of course), we were solicited by a woman with newspapers outside the local Scientology church. Nesan and I thought it had something to do with Scientology, but Derrick stopped to talk to the woman out of politeness. It turns out she was from the local communist party, and was giving away anti-Bush literature (which may actually be a good hook for the party) and trying to *sell*, **sell** mind you, a DVD about it. Honolulu has an interesting texture of people.

Once we arrived at Nesan's, he insisted that we play the game "Guitar Hero", which I've been wanting to do ever since the cheesy TV ads came out awhile ago. It turns out that it is an incredibly addicting game. It also seems that I have some talent for it - really it just a hand/eye coordination thing. If only the guitar controller were more like a real guitar, it would be a fantastic way to learn how to actually play.

I just dropped off the latest rental car at the airport, and while I was waiting for the bus to go to work, I started chatting with this guy who flew in from Maui, Beau from Kihei who teaches surfing. A few minutes later, we were joined by Inga, another surfer, from Honolulu but who just came in from Kuaui. It was really cool - we all had a long conversation about surfing, Hawaii, skyscrapers, $7 cartons of milk, and Maui roads vs. the Autobahn in Germany (where Inga is originally from). We exchanged contact info and everything. I've never lived anywhere where you could comfortably have a decent conversation with total strangers as if you had been long time friends. And this is from someone who has had social anxiety attacks! The culture here is so friendly and relaxed, it really is amazing.

Also, if you are ever in Maui and want to take surf lessons, head up to Big Kahuna in Kihei, and ask for Beau.

Sunday I went to a BBQ hosted by my co-worker Nesan and his girlfriend Amy. It was several stories up, in a gorgeous rooftop garden above a parking garage, part of a complex of skyscrapers. It was my first BBQ in a skyscraper, so it was kind of cool. Most of my other co-workers weren't able to make it, so I hung out mainly with Amy and her friends (who are all really cool - though I didn't remember everyone's names - sorry!). Amy is a grad student at UH studying dance. She does choreography, which is really cool, because ever since I got the film bug I've wanted to work with a choreographer. I talked with her about collaborating on a project and she was very interested! Even cooler, I finally found my high school friend Matt through Facebook (yet another high school friend if you are one of my regular readers) and he is a musician and has created some amazing electronica. Ideally, I'd like to create a video for one of his songs, with dancers (in a modern style), using Amy's choreography. I still need to talk to Matt about it, so this all may be conjecture.

View Full Screen     View Photos on Kindfish

I had an interesting adventure today (my today, your yesterday), trying to help my friend Skitz get to Chicago. That didn't work out, but in the process he treated me to a fantastic Korean BBQ dinner. We went to a fancy place (well, maybe not so fancy since it's open 24 hours and has disposable chopsticks), where the tables have grills built in and you cook your own meat. They also bring out a very wide array of vegetable sidedishes, the only one of which I could identify was kim chee, but all were excellent (especially the mushroom thing). It was served family style, which is common in Hawaii, but I am still getting used to it so I'm glad Skitz ordered.

So, after all that and a brief trip to the grocery store, I came home to a power outage. It was just in my development, but it was interesting how quiet everything was. I stood outside in the dark, and looked up to see the Milky Way - one of the most awe inspiring sights IMHO. All things considered, it was a beautiful evening.

Yay! This is a new story fragment, written at the bus stop using a white Honolulu Advertiser dispenser as a desk, for your reading pleasure (or displeasure, since your mileage will vary):


Spinaker

This was from last week, either Monday or Sunday. I think it may actually have been Monday, King Kamehameha Day. Anyway, I took these photos after the ones from the abandoned military base that became my latest video "Remains".

Also, be sure to check out the coolness that is Kindfish. Yeah, I work there, but I genuinely like it better than Flickr.

View Full Screen     View Photos on Kindfish

Okay, I'm trying not to blog from work, but someone just posted a comment on my latest YouTube video "Remains" comparing it to a film by Francis Ford Coppola and Philip Glass. How cool!

I'm actually pretty proud of this one. I had no idea what to write about an hour ago, so this was fast and clear. I think this happened quickly because I've been mulling over the idea of writing a book about reconciling the rift between science and religion ever since seeing the Dalai Lama. Also, my versus articles tend to do pretty well, so that was motivation as well. Here it is:

Physics vs. Metaphysics

I kind of set myself up for immediate failure with story-a-day, but I've been writing steadily in my notebook - just not transferring it - so I have hope for the long run. Meanwhile, enjoy this story:


Nothing is Memorable

In other news, I walked face first into the sideview mirror of the C bus (you'd think I'd have seen myself coming). In defense of my klutziness, I was knee deep in thought and the bus was in the process of kneeling when I got off. Still, that's pretty darn dorky. Plus my glasses hurt my nose...

I recently picked up "Making Comics" and have been reading it on my commute. It's the latest from Scott McCloud who also wrote the seminal "Understanding Comics". I love it so much I am bringing it to my guild meeting tomorrow night. I know not everyone in the group is into the graphic format, but I think much of his wisdom applies to all writers, and many of us keep falling into common storytelling traps - especially not putting to page all the details of a story that we see or hear or feel inside our head, or the reverse, putting so much detail on the page that the reader gets angry and frustrated. Anyway, I highly recommend it to the few writers who occasionally read my blog.

Gosh dang-it, now I have that Daft Punk (or is it Kraftwerk? I'm getting my European electronica all entangled) song in my head. Anyway, everytime I upload a new video something goes squirrelly. I still don't know which codecs YouTube is copacetic with.

Here is the newly uploaded vid:

Boy do I have other things to do, yet I put together another video for YouTube:

I just had one of the coolest life experiences ever: I performed at a poetry slam. Not just any poetry slam, but the biggest one in the world, HawaiiSlam. It's 3am as I write this and I am still buzzing from being on stage. I was nervous about how the 'poem' would be recieved, but I got laughter where there were funny bits, and even some thoughtful 'ahhs' for the deeper moments. I think my scores ranged from 8.6 to 9.9, though I can't be sure. That's not enough to win (the competition is fierce), but not bad for a first timer. Yes, I am proud of myself. Anyway, my fantasies about becoming a stand-up comic have been given a big rejuvenating jolt.

I can't write much of it here, but I'll write about it soon (it's dovetailing with an article I'm writing). Pictures in the Kindfish slideshow below, and no, Mom, Dad, there are no pictures of me since I was the one behind the camera.

View Full Screen     View Photos on Kindfish

I picked up the current issue of WIRED during my guild meeting tonight, attracted by the lovely rockets on the cover (yeah, yeah, they may be phallic symbols, but they are also our best hope for getting off the rock). Anyway, I started crying when I began to read the cover article about the civilian space race, and I had to set it aside for a better day. It seems like we are finally at the point were we are serious about going into space (the space race was just the kiddie pool). Humanity is entering a phase shift.

Since I started working at the company I work for (signed NDA, must be cryptic), I'v felt a crushing weight of all the extracurricular projects I've started, especially my writing. Last night I jotted down an idea for an online todo list manager. You know, the billion dollar type of idea, but I pretty much knew there was probably something out there that already did want I wanted.

After snooping around for awhile, and signing up for a half dozen crappy todo list services, I found Remember the Milk. It's pretty much exactly what I wanted to build. You can have multiple lists, lists have tasks, tasks have a full set of properties, and it isn't calendar driven (which I hate), but you can set due dates. You can also prioritize tasks, share list, and make a list feed, and probably lots of other cool stuff I haven't yet discovered. The best part is that you can set a task to repeat, which is great for my weekly column which I have been forgetting to even think about. I may actually be able to keep a plant now that I could give myself a reminder to water it.

Really shouldn't be blogging at work (even though I've spent more time than this discussing the merits of "Peter, John and Bjorn"), but yay! Well, as of the first of July I do. When I applied last night, I was informed that the application process would take 2-4 weeks, but it was less than 24 hours! See?! Putting health insurance online is so much more efficient. Hopefully the rest of the industry wakes up soon.

Here is the latest article:

What is Nanotechnology?

Enjoy. Don't forget to vote in the physics polls!

You do know they're all the same thing right?

I've been on-again-off-again shopping for health insurance, mostly off again because I *despise*, **despise**, getting phone calls from health insurance sales people. How can you possibly make a decision on the phone like that? Why can't they just send you the brochures and leave you alone? To make an important decision like that you need to carefully compare different plans. Tediously boring, but much easier to do if no one is trying to give you the hard sell.

Anyway.

My favorite car insurance company, esurance, now offers health insurance. Actually they are just a 3rd party go between, but still, no phone calls (at least not yet). Hawaii health insurance providers are few and far between. Basically I can choose from Kaiser Permanente and Kaiser Permanente - but I know where their building is and I can hunt them down Moore-style if something goes terribly awry (just like I know where GoDaddy's building is in Tempe). Maybe that's awfully Dwight Shrute of me, but when I'm plunking down a big chunk of money that I'll likely never have any return on, I'd prefer it if the home office isn't on the far side of the moon.

Anyway, I'm just about to electronically sign my application, and I came across this frightening parcel of legalese:

Note: If we discover that you intentionally provided incomplete or incorrect material information in the enrollment process, we will rescind your membership. This means that we will completely void membership so that no coverage ever existed. You will have to pay as a nonmember for any services we covered.

WTF? I'm sure this is standard boilerplate for every provider, but why so draconian? What if something gets messed up in their database and a field of your info gets swapped with someone else's? Also, are they frequently combing through people's records to see if they possibly lied? Ack. Remind me not to watch "The Rainmaker" anytime in the near future (well, not much of a Grisham fan anyway).

My Grandmother was born on June 4th 1916. Today she would have been 91. Still, 90's not bad at all. Before she died I had her reading "The Elegant Universe" and "The Fabric of the Cosmos" both by Brian Green, as well as numerous other science books. My grandmother and I were 60 years apart, it's amazing the difference six decades can make for a human life. My grandmother endured the Great Depression and WWII, poverty and abuse, and the stigmas that go along with that. She had to raise eight children by herself. I've gone to college, explored the world (just a bit but more to come), practiced various arts, written books. All things my grandmother could have done just the same if only the opportunity had come to her. She certainly had the intelligence.

In many ways, the passage of her nine decades has erased much of the world that came before. Women have more of a voice now (if only more would speak). Human rights are valued - at least on paper. Life is a lot less hardscrabble for a lot of us, but strides still need to be taken in forgotten parts of the world. What will happen when nine more decades have passed?

kaos_test

Here's a new poll, Better Living Through Physics. Check it out and vote! I'm trying to get my poll numbers up, but Suite puts the polls at the bottom of the main page so they are very hard to find.

It's amazing how wide open people leave their home networks - but good for me! Something's up with my roommate's home network, I can't get out to the internet, but there are about 10 home networks I'm in, and at least one isn't password protected.

I can even access the internet while riding the bus, just by driving through open network after open network. I think that's partly because Oahu is so densely populated on the south shore, there's few gaps in coverage.

This is sort of ironic. A few days ago I was writing an email about how social networking on the internet now makes it really easy to keep track of your friends and new people you meet, whereas 5 or 10 years ago if you lost touch you lost touch. A high school friend emailed me out of the blue and invited me to Facebook, the kind of good friend I wanted to keep in touch with. She's half a world away in London!

In another touch of irony, as I was writing this "Mad World" was playing at Starbucks (where I am writing from at the moment). That song always makes me think of lost friends and the nostalgia surrounding them. "Mad World" was also made into one of Gondry's best music videos (yeah - still on the Gondry kick, but his brain is just so darn cool!) Weird.

It's for Paul McCartney's "Dance Tonight" off his new album. You can spot Gondry jamming on the drums (Paul is on guitar) at the end of the video. It seems reminiscent of "Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground", the video Gondry did for The White Stripes.

Also, a publicity picture have been released for "Be Kind, Rewind", the new Gondry movie staring Jack Black and Mos Def. The movie is set to premiere on April 4th 2008.

EDIT: I just found out that the ghost effect was done completely in camera! I think it is the same technique that Peter Jackson used with the burning pyre with Faromir (sp?) in "The Return of the King" (basically the actor was on unburning wood, and the fire was projected onto the image with mirrors). Don't quite get it, but dumb me, I assumed it was some sort of double exposure. The actors playing the ghosts were actually interacting (though probably offstage) with Paul McCartney. Also, the actor playing the mandolin girl is Natalie Portman. I hope this means that Gondry and Portman will be working together in the future.

On my way home from work today I twisted my ankle and completely bit it into a patch of loose asphalt near my house. I was wearing shorts so my right knee got shredded and I was bleeding everywhere. My thought as I met the asphalt was how much is this going to cost me?

I had screamed out in pain (pretty proud of myself that a stream of expletives didn't come out of my mouth as is usual for me in these instances), and five people came completely out of the woodwork to my assistance. Only in Hawaii! People are definitely cool here.

I was a little embarrassed about crying out, although I think that's actually a survival thing - you instinctively cry out for assistance from your fellow mammals and when it comes you don't feel like crying (as much) anymore. I was able to put weight on the ankle and hobbled the rest of the way home.

I went into the kitchen, bleeding a trail on the floor (yes, I did clean it up), and when I looked at in the light I saw it was more than just a scrape. I thought the skin had flapped. I was really grossed out and couldn't bring myself clean it out thoroughly for fear of seeing bone. I had the suspicion I would need stitches, which I had never had. Either that or a tube of superglue, which is now being used as a quick fix for wounds.

I called my dad in the pacific timezone for a consultation (he has a strong medical background and I always consult him on these matters). I told him the size of the wound and he told me I need to see if I need stitches. Great. I had no idea if there was any sort of clinic around, and not having a car made it really difficult. Plus my roommates were already asleep. So I called my friend Leslee. She was just finishing dinner with friends in Millilani and immediately agreed to drive over, pick me up, and drive me to the hospital. She's lived on Oahu for nearly 28 years so she definitely knows everything by heart. Unfortunately their aren't many clinics on Oahu and none were open that late. I kind of knew already that this was going to cost a fortune.

I just have to say I am extremely grateful to Leslee. I think one of the true litmus tests of whether a not a friend fits in the lifelong category is whether or not they are willing *and* enthusiastic about driving you to the hospital at an inconvenient hour.

So, at the hospital I was really amazed at the service. They were well-staffed, everyone was super nice and good natured (though that's probably just the Hawaiian thing), and I got seen immediately! They don't even have a waiting room big enough to hold more than a few patients, so it must always be fast.

The doctor was very communicative (I got the impression he was a surfer) and I had plenty of opportunity to ask questions without feeling like I was rushed. When he came in to check out the wound he asked me what my story was. I got out about half a sentence before he cut me off "No, no, you've got to come up with a better story!" We all laughed (yeah, having to go to the hospital because you've stumbled is *really* lame). So, thanks Dr. J. Brent Morosco M.D.!

It turned out I didn't need stitches afterall, but they patched it up (and a deep cut on my hand that I didn't notice at the time of the fall). They also insisted on wrapping my sprained ankle with an Ace bandage.

The thing that was really awful was when we asked how much it was going to be (they are billing me later). The nurse didn't really know, but she estimated it was going to be in the ballpark of $1000. I had prepared myself for something in between $100 and $500, but at $1000 I could only laugh. For a scraped knee, that's completely ridiculous. That's like Pentagon budget line items ridiculous. I'm beginning to sidle into the Hillary Clinton camp because if anyone will push through universal health care it'd be her (just to be able to wave it in the faces of all those who thwarted her for the first two terms of her presidency..er..First Ladyship). At least if everyone is covered by something, then the hospitals won't charge a couple of months' rent for a strip of gauze and some Bactine.