Developing Usable Experiences

35 and counting

July 12th, 2007 6:45 am —  139 views

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In a noisy and painful affair, I was spit out into the world 35 years ago today. It wasn’t something I asked for or requested. It just happened and I blame my parents.

So here I am. Shuffling my way through days in a haze of confusion, emotion, and learning. At least I hope I’m learning. It isn’t always easy to tell. I guess a large part of learning is attitude though; I should be all set.

W. will be taking me to dinner tonight at one of our local favorites and bought a couple cakes for me to share with my work peeps. She is good to me.

This is the moon in the morning, taken last week during an early walk. I zoomed in like crazy then zoomed in with my image editor to get this detail. I’m a moon child, like all crabs. Word to the Zodiac.

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Change is all over

July 10th, 2007 6:09 pm —  119 views

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I learned recently that there are basically two ways people deals with coins; they try to spend them (the change game) or they collect them (in various locations about your dwelling). I’m definitely a collector. I have little collections all over. Certain collections even have stories. Like the 100 pennies I have in a decaying lunch bag in a plastic margarine container. An early mentor, Mr. Johnny G, lost a $1 bet to me (I have no idea what it was). He paid me in pennies, in a paper sack. I’ve hung on to those pennies for over 17 years. In that same paper sack. Trying to explain why wouldn’t be so easy.

Reverand Randall (pictured with yours truly) and I used work together on delivery trucks. He was very easy to work with. We didn’t talk a lot to coordinate. Over time I gained my own experience and was eventually put in charge of my own truck…with somebody else. While I had many great experiences over the years riding with different people, none were like working with the Reverand. Word to you, father-of-another-three.

I turn 35 this week. It’s no wonder I’m reflecting on things, on change, on how time changes as you pass through more of it. The combined relationship is very much non-linear. Maybe Log N? Ha.

Other changes are in the air like a strange smell. Big projects, changing priorities, school in two months, changes with my work (and with who). It always happens. Change. Where is the pure time stream anyway?

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Summer heats up

July 8th, 2007 10:58 pm —  135 views

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Golf on Thursday was good but my golf partner was on vacation. I golfed with a youngin’ fresh out of college who recently started working where I work. A sharp guy and a good golfer.

The weekend didn’t feature any traveling outside our neighborhood. We went for a walk Saturday morning since the weather was so perfect. Later that day I made further modifications to my custom monitor stand for work and painted it a nice matte black. I spent the rest of the day working on computer stuff and odd chores around the house.

Sunday I walked down to the store to get some stuff for a tasty breakfast. Couldn’t help but take a picture of my favorite coffee cup being all camera happy like I’ve been lately. Later that day morning we turned this into this. It was hot and the ground was pretty hard but it turned out pretty good. Next weekend we’ll fill it with plants. In the afternoon I ran down to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls.

It’s an interesting experiment trying to take pictures throughout a day describing what you’ve done. I must be pretty bored if this is how I’m spending my summer vacation.

School starts in two months if you can believe it.

This picture was taken in the parking lot of the driving range. It was 93 degrees F outside. Ridiculous humid too. Feels good but air conditioning sure is nice to have as an option.

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The Little Finger and the Black Crowes

July 5th, 2007 8:12 am —  192 views

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Another weekend has come and gone and with this one new experiences at familiar places. W. and I rented a little cabin in the town where I grew up (age 4 to 11) in order to catch a concert in the same open auditorium where my brother, myself, and recently my nephew, all walked for graduation from high school. On the way there we drove by the house I grew up in. The day before the concert we took toured the little finger following old M-22 along the coast.

We got to our cabin mid-afternoon on the first day. We checked out the fire pit, the lake, took a vacation picture and went to dinner at one of the only restaurants in the town. Chatting it up with a local, I learn the owner’s wife does the flower garden out front.

The day of the concert we headed west. Our first stop was at a fishery where we checked out the fish and weir. With W. as the trusty navigator, we headed further west and visited the beach in Frankfort. The sand felt great on our feet. The view was spectacular. Got some good shots of the dunes. Headed up this really cool, but steep, hill out of town and continued north along the coast.

We stopped at Otter Creek where we spent days playing as kids. A good cameo and more coastal dunes. A little further north to Empire we found a beach, had some lunch, looked for rocks, then headed north again to Glen Arbor where we enjoyed a cool beverage among the touristas. After that, we headed north again, to Leland. Fishtown in Leland is a cool place. Old fishing boats and lots of little touristy shops.

Unfortunately I followed the rules and didn’t take my camera to the concert. Everybody was taking pictures so it wouldn’t have mattered. However, I did get a picture of our seats from the perspective of the lead singer the day before.

We cleaned up the next morning and headed home. The evening of the fourth was uneventful. Now it’s morning and I have to go to work…and tonight is golf league.

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Summer stroll

July 1st, 2007 9:38 am —  172 views

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The last couple days have been action packed, relatively speaking. The next few promise to be as well. The pace in my work is stepping up a couple notches, we are heading to the town where I grew up and graduated highschool to see a concert. I’ve been looking forward to this since my brother was kind enough to fax me the early ticket registration form. Word to my brother-from-the-same-motha, Reverand DJ.

Saturday was busy doing house chores with the usual dabbling of computer stuff (an ongoing thing). Installing stuff, testing stuff, migrating things, trying to understand how to make something work when it doesn’t pretty much. Also a lot of experimentation and research and prototyping. Finally stained the outside rails of our deck, mowed the lawn, did some other various things then watched some Tigers in the afternoon.

Later in the evening we took a walk around our neighborhood and I grabbed my trusting camera for blogs shots. This is a cameo in the window of my car looking through to W.’s car. These are flowers and more flowers in front of our house. Accidental bike track? Walking cameo. Secret trail into the woods at the corner of our park. A tall menacing looking weed. A dragonfly decoration in our front. My feet.

Lots to do today. I’m probably already running behind. :)

This is the top of the gazebo structure in the middle of the park. That little bird on top was belting out some decibels.

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