The 2011 List
I never published “a list” last year, and probably for good reasons – 2010 was a rough year. Little did I know that 2011 would be even more strange, with higher highs and lower lows, another ten or twenty decibels of emotional dynamic range. In an effort to at least put a stake in the [...]
Team Santa
Twenty-four years ago, I joined Team Santa. The initiation was quick and somewhat forced; the COO of my startup asked me to be Santa Claus for the office Christmas party, holding various small children on my lap for (film) camera photo opportunities. At the time, I had no idea that I even liked kids, or [...]
Eagle Rock Park 9/11 Memorial
I rented some pro-grade camera equipment last weekend, intent on enjoying every last minute behind the lens of our son’s senior year of high school football. I decided to take the long lenses out for a test drive, getting a feel for their focus, depth of field and weight, choosing to photograph the Eagle Rock [...]
Sudden Adulthood and 9/11
My birthday is September 11, and I think that gives me a certain right to wax philosophical about the day. I’ve previously recountedhow and why I wasn’t in Windows on the World that day. Over the past year, I’ve shared a lot of stories with my hockey teammate Andrew, who was featured in the Newark [...]
Pep Talk: Best Buddies Ride 2011
My friend Pat, a/k/a pep, is technically my first work friend, first mentor, and the source of many introductions: systems administration, USENIX conferences, fast cars, Cold War Russian culture, a Unix deity, Erdos numbers, obscure bands with opaque anti-love songs, aerobics (do not laugh), and bad kung pao chicken (after aerobics class, unfortunately). One of [...]
Song For My Father
Happy Father’s Day, one day late. Would have posted this last night but was wiped out after a proper celebration with my kids and my parents. Nothing like getting two perfect Father’s Day Gifts that capture the essence of being a dad: a new drill bit index (Milwaukee, not the low-end Home Depot house brand) [...]
Rebuilding Rwanda By Drying The Tears
Our daughter Elana is going to be spending February 2011 at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda. The village is home to orphans who lost their families during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The name of the village combines the Kinyarwanda word for hope, when tears are dried, with the Hebrew word for peace, a path [...]
Purple For Pride Day
I love the Grateful Dead’s Terrapin Station. I scored my first ever ice hockey goal in November 1983 on a pass from my left winger. I have been fascinated by the P=NP Problem for more than a quarter century. OK, so I win today’s non-sequitur prize. But there’s a common purple thread in those three [...]
Northwest Corner Days
I am a visual learner and continue to use the school calendar image for thinking about times and dates. You know the calendar setup: it’s two rows of months, September to February on top and March to August on the bottom; our parents had them in planners and wall calendars in the 1970s. To this [...]
Strong Words and Heavy Music
The content import from my work blog to my more lifestyle, food and sports oriented life over here is about halfway done. Gentle readers will notice heavy music and strong words categories, mostly delving into prog rock, sci-fi and intersections of the two (like Avatar).