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Journal (The Ember Update)Wednesday, February 27Oh No!I have to go see it, and then hope and pray at least one of the filthy rich locals will help find a monetary solution. Damn them if they don't.
Tuesday, February 26FetchRash introduced me to Fetch.
Available on line are some looping clips I found very engaging, and I
long to see the complete original animation. The music is noteworthy too. I've been working hard on getting my Italy trip pages together. Making progress, but it'll still be a while... Temari and ArtSunday Rash came over to give Kerin and me our first lesson in making Temari balls, a traditional Japanese craft. It was a lot of fun (frustrating too), and I now have a tangible sense of just how many hours goes into completing one ball. The real tricky part seems to be getting the sewn pattern even, after all the wrapping and measuring. Kerin and I are all fired up to make a habit of doing them. I'll post a picture once my first very simple (and uneven) one is done. Kerin and I have also started a weekly "art day." I used the first two art days to prepare boards to receive pastels, while Kerin either drew or pursued a stained glass project. This last time I set up my plein-air easel in my tiny back yard and put pastel to my prepared board. For the first time ever I just did something abstract, not worrying too much about how it looked. The idea was to refamiliarize myself with the feel of the medium, and to loosen up my inhibitions about creating art. Not sure where this will take me, but I'm really not concerned about it. I think reading Art and Fear has jolted me out of my many-year hesitation towards art making. GaskellsLast Saturday evening I attended the Gaskell dance and had a great time. Many of the attendees were in Victorian garb, and the skill level of the dancers generally seemed high. It was the first dance I've attended in 4 months, and I'm pleased to say my knee held up just fine (I danced in the shoes I wear to work). I only did the waltzes, a Schottiche, and a dance I believe was called Sir Roger de Coverley. It was my type of scene, and the refreshments were better than any encountered before. Cookies! Ammy introduced me to lots of her friends (she's so cheerful!) and I managed to pass out 4 of the business cards I'd made earlier in the evening. Two went to people in my field, and two just to folks in general. I sent my resume to one friend of Ammy's. And speaking of which... Schedule changeThis week I've renewed my job search with a vigor. Yesterday I was informed by my manager that my work schedule will be changing come March 1st. I now have to work:
It's nearly the lousiest retail schedule one could have. Still, the bright side is that it'll free me to go to most dance and gaming events, so I'll really be able to start networking in earnest. Also, all those free mornings will make it easier for me to stay on top of my job search. I may spend time looking at other types of positions too, to get away from the disfunctional environment I currently work in. I hear (though I don't believe) that all gallery owners in California are nutty. My three previous experiences with galleries/frame shops on the East Coast were infinitely more stable and equitable. The interim challenge is to find a healthy work environment in a skill area I have (or can pick up quickly), that pays comparably to or better than my current job.
Tuesday, February 19James Lileks entertainingly reports, "The Force was (sort of) with Enron." (Well at least they had Chewie, Obi-Wan and a Jedi...) BTW, if you haven't visited the Institute of Official Cheer, you should. Valentine's Day Weekend(Photos
We toured some new-to-me parts of the city (traveling via cable car, bus-trolley and foot), seeing Japantown, areas around the SF MOMA (where we poked around in the gift shop), and walking through nearby galleries (I liked Caldwell Snyder Gallery, and another nearby had Chihuly pieces on display). There were some really cool glass and other artisan pieces at Gumps. We went back to Amoeba in the Haight (no-one calls it "Haight-Ashbury" out here), where I purchased the used copy of "The Best of Eddie Harris" they were playing in the very large Jazz and Classical room. In the Haight I saw a woman wearing some of the grooviest pants ever (she'd bought them in Thailand); wish I'd thought to take a photo. In many of the places were fabulous little knickknacks I wanted to buy for my brother. Robert, bring lots of money when you come visit or you'll really regret it! Saturday morning we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (my first time) and up to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods. It was great fun, though I liked Big Basin better, in part because it was way less crowded. For my mushroom hunting friends, in the last Muir photo below is a red mushroom called a "vermilion waxy cap," the breadth of this one being comparable to a dime (another photo, not here, demonstrates).
On the way back down we stopped at the Marin Headlands which overlook the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was overcast by then and none of my photos do the views justice (but here's a very cool scrollable panorama view). All and all a good time was had; it rates as the best Valentine's ever. Thanks Rash! Gifts from Japan
Wednesday, February 13What I've been up toI've been surfing. Here's an interesting 9/11 memorial proposal. And I loved this article on The Onion. Other than redesigning my site and converting all of the old content (which has taken much of the last two weeks), I've been trying to kick what seems to be my third cold of the season. I'm beginning to think I either have a sinus infection or that I'm allergic to California (I've never experienced either condition). Right now I'm maintaining with Sudafed, but thinking about going to a doctor. Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a gaming party hosted by Ammy Hill and her boyfriend Rick. Even though I was already tired by the time I arrived, I made several new acquaintances and had a really good time. Not only is this gaming crowd not unlike Wunderland's, but many of the attendees are also vintage dancers. I felt right at home ... as well as one can in a new environment. Ammy is encouraging me to attend the next Gaskells dance (I have a dinner at the Triton Museum to attend for work that same evening, but will try to make both events), as well as the upcoming Peers Secret Agents' Ball. Ammy is suffering from a knee injury, and I fear a foray into dancing right now may affect my knee too, which isn't in particularly great shape. Alice in Wonderland, 1933I went to see the 1933 version of Alice in Wonderland (amazingly comprehensive site!) with Kerin last Thursday, part of the Stanford Theatre's Cary Grant Film Festival. Cary played the weepy voice of the mock turtle and tremblingly sang "Beautiful, Beautiful Soup." His character was rather surreal, but heck, so's the whole movie. I wonder if it was actually him in the turtle costume (with a cow's head!), stiffly waving his forelegs around. My favorite part was near the end when Alice encountered the White Knight, charmingly played by the 32 year old Gary Cooper. Even in a balding grey wig, huge fake nose and long grey mustache (additional photos here and here), Gary's unfailingly sexy voice and dancing eyes made him the most engaging character. Also notable was W.C. Fields as the face/voice of Humpty Dumpty. Oh, and Rash and I went to see Beijing Bicycle on Sunday. Our reactions: two thumbs down; some good shots of the urban scenery, but the movie pretty much sucked.
Tuesday, February 12New look!I've finished redesigning my site. What do you think? Officially this is DigitizeThis 2.0. I've created a new logo and a completely different layout and color scheme than 1.0. (Unofficially, this is the 4th personal site I've designed for myself, but the first two didn't reside at this URL.) My main goals were to make navigating the site easier and to hopefully entice visitors into exploring more areas. I also wanted visitors to be able to print pages more easily, if desired ... hence the white background. To improve the site's navigation I rethought the taxonomy (organization) of the information I'm offering. I chose to categorize the information under general headers, which you see in the nav bar at the left. I suppose I could have just included four navigation links: About Me, Portfolios, Writing, and More; but this way you can see all of the available main sections. On many pages I've added a secondary navigation box, Related Links in the upper right, to encourage you to look at more stuff. If this were an e-commerce site I'd be including suggestions on other things you might want to buy. Amazon is very good at this... I hope you like the new look. Please let me know if anything doesn't work on your browser (tell me the browser and if you're on Windows or Mac), or if the layout looks broken to you. One of the many downsides of not currently working in a web shop is that I no longer have easy access to Windows machines and browsers to test the new site's design and functionality. (Thanks Rash and Kerin for your testing help!)
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