As summer rushes past, so have our birthdays¹. After we got home from W.’s birthday dinner last night we hung out in our basement watching the Tigers game talking about how old we feel sometimes and how the world is changing around us. Then I watched the 2 hour 3rd season finale of Avatar²

W. has an old Ipod that she uses just about everyday struggling with its limited space (and her large music collection). So for her birthday I upgraded it to an newer model … yeah, it has filthy space³.

But it’s more than that. The little screen has great color and a clear screen. She downloaded an episode of a television show she likes as a test. It’s amazing the video on this thing. The ubertech of it got us reflecting on “the old days.”

When boom-boxes and walk-mans first came out, the world was in awe similarly to what it is today to with cell phones, mp3 players, and media devices, etc. We ’sapiens love our technogadgetry don’t we?

As a little kid I remember spending hours with one of those big square tape recorders recording silly things and loving it. Like getting our doberman to growl and bark while taping it. We’d play it back and he’d go crazy barking and getting his zoids all freaky. That was the funniest thing. Or recording fart noises⁴.

With the integrated radio/tape recorder, we reached previously unattained heights of awesomeness when we learned to record songs off the radio. W. and laughed about how we used to curse like angry drunken sailors at the radio announcer because they’d talk over the first 20 seconds of every song while we were trying to create that perfect mixed tape.  Ah…those were the days.

We’re going to see a band at the end of the week that we only recently learned about. It’s funny to think how exposure to new music was originally the radio and how we’d use tape recorders to preserve and playback our favorites. Today we watch live concerts in HD using our DVR then download what we like to iPods using iTunes⁵. That is what happened with O.A.R.. We took to their funky jams straight away. Same with Paulo Nutini.

We have decent seats and are looking forward to a good time.

Image: For this post I hunted through my archives for something that said peace, patience, wisdom, maybe a dash of sadness. I happened on this picture of a sea turtle at an aquarium on the island of Maui where W. and I honeymooned 8 years ago. Old, calm, wise, but trapped in a cage. I’ve got turtles on the brain. Probably because Aangwas given great wisdom from an ancient Lion Turtle in the finale of Avatar. An ancient turtle also appeared in Stephen King’s “IT”…a scene I’ll never forget.

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1. W. and my birthday are only 9 days apart. [↩]
2. This is an awesome cartoon series about a boy who bends air, without hair. [↩]
3. I say that now. In 15 years we’ll look at it and think, damn…that was fricken lame. Now we have these fancy quantum computing arrays distributed across our fingernails… [↩]
4. …or actual farts. But seriously, it is the rare individual that can fart on que. [↩]
5. What can you say? Apple just does it right with this stuff. Smart, easy to use, intuitive design and interfaces. Google…if you don’t hire me soon, Apple might get to me. [↩]

Sometimes in my normal job, priorities and objectives change and it’s hard to keep up. Just when you think you’re on the same page as the authors, the storyline changes and you find yourself as a background character in a 3 color comic.

It doesn’t matter whose idea it is. Good ideas should be recognized as such. But for some reason things get confused and I’m not sure why. But upon reflection, I realize it doesn’t really matter if I understand. On the flip side, when I understand I tend to get new ideas. Like the moon and the tides, things wax and wane. We’re only human. Ordinary mortal beings.

A couple times a day now I check my basil for japanese beetles. When I find’em I smack’em around so they know who’s boss and then they take off like a herd of shiny flies. I’ve noticed when I open the slider to the deck they take flight, hoping to avoid the backhand biotch slap. But alas, I think my basil is done for. Chewed full of holes and sad looking it is.

My peppers are going crazy though. I’m not sure when to pick them or the cherry tomatoes for that matter, so I’ll just wait a bit. I consider this first season of deck grown vegetables primarily an experiment. Having never grown these items I have no idea what to expect. It’s fun that way.

Though it’s summer, I’m still thinking a lot about user experience, interactive design, and most importantly, information architecture. Thinking about it I realize the notion behind an architect of information involves a myriad of things that most people don’t really consider. Information is at the heart of everything we do. In fact, everything we do produces information while at the same time consuming information. We couldn’t function otherwise. We are organic information processing machines.

Tomorrow is going to be hot. Golf will be played in a furnace. Friday we take our cats to the vet but don’t look forward to it. As for projects, we might paint our bedroom this weekend in anticipation of new furniture slated to arrive at the end of the month. Eventually there will be pictures chronicling this entire process for the edification of all you interested readers.

Ha. But really, it’s too soon for that. I have to be sensitive to other’s feelings you know.

Image: Taken this morning, this is my chili pepper plant. I’m not sure if they’ll turn red first or if they’ll turn red after I pick them. I’m still learning, but it sure is fun.

Another birthday has come and gone. It was a nice weekend and W. and I spent it together, enjoying the down time. We had a fantastic dinner on Saturday night then spent a couple windy hours playing golf on Sunday. Most of the family touched base for well wishing. My oldest nephew even took a moment to call¹.

It’s looking like I might get to relax for the last month and a half of summer. Relax in the sense of not having to spend so many evenings and mornings doing double-time as a web designer. Not that I mind that much, but with time during the summer at a premium, I have to be particularly careful about how I commit myself². There are still a couple options brewing, but I doubt they’ll yield much.

Though we’ve taken a number of days off this summer, we haven’t really had a “vacation.” W. and I were talking about this during breakfast this morning. Most of the time we’ve taken off has been to hang out at home, working on various projects. We have our summer “camping” trip to Mackinaw coming up which promises to be a good time. Other than that, we don’t have much in the way of travel planned. We’re looking to make a trip north to see family sometime around the end of July or early August.

I was sad to learn that a friend of my Mother’s passed away yesterday³. A reminder to appreciate time and companionship.

Image: W. made me one of my favorite cakes (cherry chip with fluffy vanilla frosting) and I decorated it with my signature “S”…outlined using my grubby finger. The nice thing about having a cake all to oneself is the freedom it affords. If I want a bite or to tast the frosting, I just do it.

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1. Probably prompted by his father, but none-the-less, it was nice to do. [↩]
2. …and for how much. [↩]
3. Rest in peace B. [↩]

Inspired by various factors, I’ve once again picked up my guitars.

As a way to quiet my mind and exercise my left hand, I’ve taken to practicing my guitar lately. Not that I have a lot of time for this, but a few minutes in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings lets me explore a world of sound.

But honestly I can’t play worth a crap. I can pluck some chords and play some scales, but I don’t have a scientific or pragmatic approach to improving my playing ability. As time and connections permit, I hope to change that. In the past, I quickly hit a plateau of playing and become discouraged. I see it coming.

In thinking about improving my musical skills, I sometimes reflect on why I’m drawn to playing an instrument. Besides dabbling with guitars through the years, I’ve never concentrated on learning how to read music and play something. The more I get into it though, the more I appreciate the precision, sensitive touch, and coordination needed to make noise you can feel.

In short, I play around with noise because it makes me use my brain in a way that I don’t in my daily life. It is exercise for my dumber-than-right left hand as well as parts of my brain that don’t get used much. Working the brain is always worthwhile.

I know fall classes are fast approaching and another moonlighting project is staring at me, waiting to burst out of it’s gates. Maybe my guitars will end up collecting dust like they were before. Or will end up sitting with my watercolor equipment, lonely but not forgotten. There just isn’t enough time.

Image: A picture taken just for this post then deleted from my camera. This is the mess of lesson books, sheet music, guitar picks, and foot pedals that has gathered near my office desk. Quick accessibility to make noise.

I won’t draw this out, but seeing how it is clouding our days right now, I can’t but mention it.

The lesson learned¹; don’t fix what isn’t broken.

W. and I decided to refinish our bedroom furniture over the holiday weekend. It didn’t go as planned and we ended up painting it black. Not that black furniture isn’t contemporary and all that, it isn’t what we had in mind at all. And now we can barely stand to have it in our room. In fact, we’re sleeping in our basement guest room tonight because our bedroom smells like paint. Poor W. is lamenting over the entire matter and there is little I can say to assuage her feelings of discontent. Moving on.

I golfed 18 holes yesterday while taking pictures for a golf site I’m working on. I had a great time, golfed well, and got some color on my bald head. Now I look like a blushing Casper.

As I went to water my vegetables and herbs on my deck this morning I noticed some critter had chewed holes in my basil. Upon closer examination I found some shiny beetles gorging themselves. I’ll be keeping an eye out for them. Might need to mix up some sort of deterrent to keep them away. More research needed.

Summer is going by so fast and I can’t shake the feeling like I should be getting more done. Need to breath and relax. Breath and relax. Now focus.

Image: I had considered posting before, during, and after pictures from this laborious refinishing project but didn’t have the heart for it. I wouldn’t want to remind W. of the pain suffered should she ever decide to read this blog. This is me mustering the strength to push on.

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1. Reinforced might be a better description [↩]