Andrew S. Parnell

Brand new website (Update your bookmarks / rss readers)

2009-10-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

Hello and hi there folks.

If you view my site at it's true url (http://www.anderwparnell.com), you’ve probably already noticed a drastic change to the look of the site. It was old, and in desperate need of an overhaul, so I did just that.

But if you're seeing this entry, you're most likely looking at my old blog, either at blogger, or through an rss reader.

The new urls are http://www.andrewparnell.com/blog for the blog. and feed://andrewparnell.com/feed/ for the rss feed.

For years I’ve been powering the blog side of things with a blogger account, and my portfolio was a handwritten xml database. Because of this the blog was well maintained, but the portfolio, which was the splash page to the site, became neglected pretty quickly.

There were also a lot of things about the way the portfolio was handled under the old site that I didn’t like, including that I didn’t provide a good way to link directly to individual entries, nor did I provide a good indicator of new content. Not that that was an issue, since I almost never updated it.

All these things have been addressed in the new site. I’ve ditched the lighbox portfolio gallery that was so popular when I built the old site, and opted for individual pages for each entry.

The newest portfolio entry is now being publicized on the header of the home page and blog, and the latest blog post is visible on the front page.

I’ve also switched from being blogger driven to WordPress. I never had a single complaint with blogger, but the way I was getting my data was more than a bit kludgy, pulling the blog content from an RSS feed, and reformatting it to fit my needs.

Moving to WordPress I’m giving up my worry free data backup, but I think it will be well worth it.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say on this topic. If you have any thoughts / feedback, I’d love to hear them.

Inspiration China - Opening Tonight.

2009-10-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

Inspiration China (Part of China Design Now Portland) opens tonight at 5 PM.

I went by yesterday and loaded Pectomoveo up with ink, and witnessed it put down its first set of lines, and I am absolutely in love with what it's doing. I'm so pleased and excited.

I'll see you there!

New work, old work, and the October shows containing them.

2009-10-06T00:16:00.000-07:00

Last month was just jam packed with work for me, prepping both old and new work for two shows I had opening this month.

The show I made new work for this month is Inspiration China, part of China Design Now.

Responding to a 1000+ year old comb, I built a single axis CNC comb titled Pectomoveo, which mimics the gestural history of the comb by recording the movement as ink traces on paper.

The piece is laser cut out of wood, and operated by Arduino.

UO's Allied Arts & Architecture's blog has some nice photos and a good article on the exhibit, which opens this Thursday, October 8th, 5-7pm, at The White Box, 24 NW First Avenue, Portland, OR.

This is going to be a great show, with a lot of great people in it, like my Maybe We Can cohorts Zach Rose*, Shawna X. Huang and Mackenzie Schubert.

The other show I have this month is part of the Dorkbot PDX group show at ON Gallery where I'm displaying Cardiolumen, which was my BFA Thesis Piece.

Cardiolumen @ Maybe We Can from Andrew Parnell on Vimeo.

Using a heart rate monitor, an arduino, a servo motor, some gears and a dimmer switch, I am able to present the user's heart rate back to him, creating a meditative loop.

Jason has some great pictures of the show up on his site. I tried to get some myself, but it was just too crowded. (Not that I'm complaining.)

*You can also see Zach Rose, and his heart beat, in the video of Cardiolumen @ Maybe We Can. That's right, cross promotion within one post.

Data and the Physical World

2009-10-06T00:09:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Sorry to have gone radio silent for the entire month of September. I've got this folder of images I wanted to post about in September, but now that we're in October, I guess we'll just skip it. (If you follow me on twitter you got the highlights anyway.)

Back in June I got invited to speak at Dorkbot 0x03. It was...not the smoothest talk I've ever been part of, in part because I really rushed through it. But it was a great experience.

Anyway, I recently found out Jared posted the video of my talk, so I figured I might as well share it.

Andrew S. Parnell - Data and the Physical World from Jared Boone on Vimeo.

Enjoy.

Oh Maywa Denki

2009-08-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Seriously, lets just leave it at Maywa Denki, I <3 You.

Body Collective

2009-08-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

I'm super loving this work from Second Story for Portland Art Museum's Marking Portland: The Art of Tattoo exhibit.

Titled Body Collective, the piece lets visitors super impose art from the collection onto their own bodies, and then stores that image to be viewed by future visitors to the exhibit. It's super fun, and super beautiful.

...I like the word super today.

Go look at the rest of the documentation on Second Story's site. I think the videos do it the most justice.

The exhibit is running at the Portland Art Museum until September 7th. I'm going to check it out. If you're in/around Portland, you should too.

Thanks Nina for the alert.

The Maze Solving Algorithm

2009-07-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

Maze Solving Algorithm from Andrew Parnell on Vimeo.

The Maze Solving Algorithm is a bit more geographically limited than RPS, mostly because you need to be in a walled city (or can otherwise define some bounds that act as a maze wall.) Still, if you CAN use it, the results are wonderful.

In Siena I went from Porta Tufi to Porta Ramano which Google tells me should take about 21 minutes walking, but using the algorithm took closer to an hour. Let me tell you: it was a well spent hour. (Though, I couldn't help but feel frustrated when I realized 30 minutes in that I'd effectively moved one block.)

RPS

2009-07-27T03:50:00.000-07:00

After dinner last night I went through and gave RPS a proper trial. It worked BEAUTIFULLY! I'm actually a bit let down that I didn't start doing this earlier in the trip, because I saw areas of town I'd never seen before, and it was amazing.

A little modification to the rules stated last time for doing RPS with a standard ipod. Loading only 3 images (one of each arrow) will actually just repeat in the same random order every time. So instead of loading 3, load 10-15 copies of each image. This seems to work.

Algorithm

2009-07-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'm in Siena, a medieval walled city. This place is exactly like the kind of mazes you find on children's placements at diners all over the US. (Maybe internationally too... I haven't ordered a kids meal here...) With this fact in mind it made sense to me to try and "solve" Siena using maze solving algorithms.

Maze Solving Algorithm

Now, I'm finding that when I say the word algorithm, people around me seem to just tune out. So let me clarify really quick. By algorithm I don't mean a large convoluted series of equations. I mean a very simple, specific, and strict set of rules. With Siena those rules are as follows:

1) Choose two gates, one to start at and one to finish at.
2) Choose a hand, left or right.
3) Keep that hand on a wall at all times. [Note: you don't actually have to walk touching a wall...that would be silly...but your path must be determined by the ability to do so. IE, if you choose your right hand, every time you can make a right turn, you must.]
4) Treat all gates that are not your final destination as though they are closed, with a wall bridging them.

Because you are starting and ending along city wall, you are guaranteed to get to your destination. It won't be the most direct route, but that's kind of the point.

Along the same lines, but with a less clear destination, is my second method - RPS.

RPS - Random Positioning System

RPS does not guarantee that you will get anywhere, and it is almost guaranteed that you will become lost within the city. After I get back to the states RPS will become an actual ipod touch / iphone app, available for download and applicable to any city. For the time being though I'm accomplishing the same effect with a regular ipod and the following rules.

1) Load an ipod with 3 images, a left arrow, a right arrow, and a forward arrow. Put them in a playlist. Enable shuffle.
2) As you walk, at every interesection, restart the playlist. This will select a new image at random.
3) Follow the arrows.
[NOTE: This WILL get you lost. Pay attention to the route it takes you on so you can back track if necessary.]

Historic Background
Like most things, the basic ideas behind these methods of navigation are not entirely new. And it seems fitting that in the process of prepping for this piece I stumbled across Psychogeography (by stumbled I mean I wound up in its territory and was alerted of this fact by my professor Colin Ives)

In 1955 by Guy Debord defined Psychogeography as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." Guy Debord and the Situationalists used a map of London to explore the German countryside, using a restricted system to approach a nearlly unrestricted geography.

Using a map of Siena clearly wouldn't introduce any new experience to exploring the city, so instead I'm applying rules of mechanical exploration to a human system.

Tortillas...

2009-07-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

Does any one else think it's odd that since I've been in Italy only one of the three (well, four now) posts I've made has had anything to do with Italy?

Yeah, me neither. Here's a post about tortillas.

I started making my own tortillas a few months ago, while I was in that "lets empty the fridge" stage of getting ready to move. When I'd mention this to people people would look at me like I was a mad man. Apparently I'm not alone in that respect. [No Recipes] just posted an article about making tortillas, and it's great.

My own method involves less prep time...but maybe I should chill that dough. *shrug* I'm impatient, what can I say.

Anyway, go read the article and learn to make your own tortillas. Why's everyone act like this is hard?

Continue Time

2009-07-21T05:41:00.000-07:00

Sander Mulder, the studio that brought you Woofers (you know...those speakers installed in the necks of cast dog bodies...) just made 21 (20 for release, one artists proof) of the most amazing clock I've seen in a while. Continue Time is a 3 handed clock with exposed gears where the 3 hands each pivot on the tip of the previous unit. This is seriously beautiful.

....droooooool.

[via Make]

Oh Brad...

2009-07-20T04:18:00.000-07:00

Brad Pitt did an article for this month's Wired. Sooo good.

[Via NOTCOT.org]

Green Platform

2009-07-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Kids! (This is going to be rushed...and for that I am sorry.)

I'm in Siena, Italy doing a study abroad for the month of July. It's been pretty much amazing, in spite of my speaking ~15 words of the language. (...I started at 4...so... 15 is an improvement? Ci?)

Anyway, I don't really have internet access here. Not when I'm at my apartment anyway. But when I was in Florance Friday night, our hostel had wifi. Which was amazing, because it just so happened that We Make Money Not Art had posted this. We're talking serious stars aligning here.

So of course, I (along with two of the other artists I'm here with) went! It was this cool combo between art exhibit and science fair, which resulted in a really amazing experience.

Here's a sampling of images for you. The first 3 are my own images, the last two though are taken from the Green Platform website because I apparently was too enthralled by the piece to photo it well. All images are linked to the artist's page on the Green Platform site.

Nicola Toffolini

Nicola Toffolini just made it to my list of artists I think are super cool™ because of this piece, Volumi mutevoli a regime di crescita disturbato, which puts so many degrees of seperation between plant grown and natural sunlight its just breathtaking. (Three degrees are in the photo, realistically there are probably even more levels. But in the gallery it's spotlights powering solar panels powering red and blue grow lights.)

Dave Hullfish Bailey

There's something almost whimsical about Dave Hullfish Bailey's combination of text on planks and 360 degree photos of the library in Slab City, California.

Christiane Löhr

These structures are only ~3 inches tall, and made of grass stalks. I'll say no more.

Nikola Uzunovski

Nikola Uzunovski: congratulations, you've also made it onto the list of artists I think are super cool™. Artificial suns in the arctic circle? Beautiful. But the way you present it in the gallery? Even better. ...is there any way I can get a copy of that video?

So yeah... best 4 euro I've spent on this trip thus far. Click the links on those photos. I'm really not doing any of these pieces justice.

CIAO!

The Man Without A Shadow

2009-06-26T00:22:00.001-07:00

Will you look at that? It's amazing! Life sized, 3D, LED person sculpture by Makoto Tojiki. Suffice it to say I'm impressed.

Can't sleep. Watching amazing cartoons.

2009-06-24T01:38:00.001-07:00

[via Cartoon Brew]

More EyeTV related scripting.

2009-06-18T14:46:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I spend way too much time with my laptop in my...well, my lap.

I've become a bit dissatisfied with the remote control that comes with EyeTV. But it has some strange lag at times, and things like changing the aspect ratio is under a web of menus.

So, I figured out how to do a litany of things via applescript, which I run through an ssh connection.

Now, for your enjoyment, here's some scripts (as called in SSH, if you're going to copy them into an applescript script, take out the osascript -e ' and the trailing ')

Full Screen:
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to enter full screen'
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to exit full screen'

Channel Changing:
Since I've still got the DTV box sitting between the EyeTV and my cable, the remote control is a way better way to change the channel, since this basically doubles the applescript lag.
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to channel_change channel number 60'
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to channel_up'
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to channel_down'

Play/Pause:
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to pause'
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to play'

Aspect Ratio:
Even via applescript changing the Aspect Ratio isn't straight forward. There isn't a direct command for it, so what I've been doing is instead telling the computer to pretend it just got the short cut key for the various aspect ratios.
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "1" using {command down, option down}'
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "2" using {command down, option down}'
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "3" using {command down, option down}'

ZephIR & EyeTV

2009-06-16T13:52:00.001-07:00

Comcast recently switched the majority of their analog cable over to digital, forcing me to get a little digital converter box to sit between the cable and my EyeTV. It also killed my ability to change channel thru EyeTV (I have the first gen of the 250+, which doesn't have built in QCAM) so I bought a ZephIR.

It works pretty well, but when quickly flipping through channels, it just doesn't keep up. Often I'd land on a channel (say 42) but since I'd been using just the up/down buttons, it would stop somewhere between (like 55).

So I wrote a little perl script to fix the problem.

In order for it to work you have to make sure that the components are named DIFFERENTLY in EyeTV and ZephIR. (Severing the connection between them.)

Here's the code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

# Declare the subroutines
sub trim($);
sub currentChannel();
sub blast($);
sub blastUp();
sub blastDown();

# Declare channel variable
my $curChan;

$curChan = currentChannel();

while(1) {
my $chanNow = currentChannel();
if(!($curChan == $chanNow))
{
$diff = $chanNow-$curChan;
if($diff==1) { blastUp(); }
elsif($diff==-1) { blastDown(); }
else {
blast($chanNow);
}
$curChan = $chanNow;
}
}

sub trim($)
{
my $string = shift;
$string =~ s/^\s+//;
$string =~ s/\s+$//;
return $string;
}

sub currentChannel()
{
$result = `osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to get current channel'`;
return trim($result);
}

sub blast($)
{
my $in = shift;
my $command = "tell application \"ZephIR\" \n";
foreach (split(//, $in)) {
$command .= "fire zephir command \"$_\" of component \"ComcastDTA_\"\n";
}
$command .= "fire zephir command \"enter\" of component \"ComcastDTA_\"\n";
$command .= "end tell\n";
system("osascript -e '$command'");
}

sub blastUp()
{
system("osascript -e 'tell application \"ZephIR\" to fire zephir command \"Channel_Up\" of component \"ComcastDTA_\"'");
}

sub blastDown()
{
system("osascript -e 'tell application \"ZephIR\" to fire zephir command \"Channel_Down\" of component \"ComcastDTA_\"'");
}

REMINDER! (Or maybe it's an announcement)

2009-06-14T17:59:00.001-07:00

I'll be speaking at Dorkbot 0x03 along with Michael Bunsen and Dan Gilsdorf tonight at 7pm.

The talk will be at AboutUs 107 SE Washington St, Suite 520. here in Portland.

It's open to the public, so you should stop by!

See you there.

[More info]

Authenticity Visual Responses

2009-06-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

So far I've only posted 1/6 of the visual responses for Zara's class. Initially it was because I was debating whether or not I wanted to post them on my blog, then it was just because I was just not doing them. I'm still not sure I want these on the blog, but since I'm doing them all at once, what the hell!

Authentic Brand

Adafruit Industries is the epitome of an authentic brand to me. Why? I'm not sure. But I feel a strong emotional connection to it as a brand, and really feel like the values it embodies are ones that should be upheld within the DIY community.

Authentic Portland Architecture

What could be more authentic to Portland than its iconic bridges?

Authentic Experience

Ok, so this book is actually pretty sub par, and by no means is it an experience, but it had this really cool excerpt about authentic experiences, so I thought I'd include that.

"We choose a package deal with Authentic ExperiencesTM.
According to the brochure, there are five kinds of Experience: Urban, Rural, Semirural, Ethnic, and Ethnic with Danger. Standard Endangerment is Mild or Implied, but those in the know understand they may inquire discreetly about Actual Hazard - e.g., I've heard there might be something more? wispered into the ear of a client services representative (along with a slip of paper, folded and pressed into the palm, on which has been written a four- or even low five-figure sum) - for which damage waiver/general release forms will have to be signed and notarized..."

"'When does the Authenticity start?' my wife says. 'I want to have some Experiences.'"

Authentic Artist

I really can't think of anyone who embodies the idea of an authentic artist. Really, I think anyone who is putting work out there with artistic intent fits. (And no, I don't think they have to handle all stages of production to qualify.)

Authentic Designed Product

Is it wrong to mark my own product as an "authentic designed product?" I mean, come on, Shawna thinks it authentic, and I'm not about to disagree with her!

Location...

2009-05-30T03:25:00.001-07:00

Just so you know... I'm in the meeting Meeting Pavilion spot 514.

See you at Maker Faire!

Premiering tomorrow at Maker Faire: a totally different project!

2009-05-30T03:17:00.000-07:00

I went to setup Tangólumen at Maker Faire today and after 5.5 hours of setup (well, 5 if you discount that 30 minutes of that was me getting lunch) it... didn't work.

Either I screwed something up in the setup or something broke in shipping (or both... or option C [to be named later]) but whatever the cause, I didn't bring the tools with me I need to really debug it, nor did I really have ample time (or the heart) to rip it back up and fix it.

However, instead of prepping to spend a weekend saying "Well... this is what it should be doing" I went to the hardware store and picked up enough parts to hack together with the laser cut pieces I brought to control Tangólumen's lighting rig to create a brand new piece. And it's 300% more awesome.

...and I'm not going to tell you what it is until after tomorrow opens.

Creating a NIB-free Cocoa Touch application in XCode

2009-05-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

Do you program Cocoa Touch apps? Do you hate that all of the project templates expect you to be using interface builder? Me too! Here's how to get rid off all IB dependencies in your app!

Why would you want to do this?
Because programatically creating interfaces is considerably easier to deal with. (In my opinion anyway.)

How do you do it?
I'm glad you asked. It's a little bit of a hassle, BUT it's worth it.

So here we go.

1) Create a new project in XCode using the "Window Based Application" template (Title it whatever the heck you want. For the sake of this tutorial I'm calling it "NoNib")

2) Looking at all the contents of your new app you should see:
CoreGraphics.framework
Foundation.framework
Info.plist
main.m
MainWindow.xib
NoNib.app
NoNib_Prefix.pch
NoNibAppDelegate.h
NoNibAppDelegate.m
UIKit.framework

Go ahead and delete MainWindow.xib (the NIB) and send it to the trash. You don't need it.

3) Open Info.plist
Select the line with key "Main nib file base name" and delete it

4) Open main.m
Find the line "int retVal = UIApplicationMain(argc, argv, nil, nil);" and replace the second line with the name of your AppDelegate as a string (example "int retVal = UIApplicationMain(argc, argv, nil, @"NoNibAppDelegate");")

5) Open your AppDelegate.h file and remove the line "@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window;"

6) Open your AppDelegate.m file
Remove the line "@synthesize window;"
Then, within - (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)application before the line that says "[window makeKeyAndVisible];" add this line "window = [[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]];"

7) Build and Go
If it doesn't build without error, you most likely missed something in the above steps. Otherwise it should launch in the simulator as a completely empty app with a black background. CONGRATULATIONS! You can now start building Views and View Controllers without any of those icky interface builder remnants dragging you down.

gEarings

2009-05-11T19:04:00.001-07:00

Well since they've been delivered, it is now officially safe for me to post about these. For mothers day I made my mom a pair of gEarings, (stud earings that double as a functioning planetary gear when in their case)

I also put the design and instructions on Thingiverse where they have since been featured.

A couple really nice things in my mind: the entire thing is laser cut (including the dowels) There is very little glue (backs of the earrings only) and the earrings were thinned down using the laser on etch.

I am pleased.

Shared on Thingiverse

2009-05-05T02:28:00.001-07:00

I decided to share the how to of the device in the last post with the world via Thingiverse.

Check it out.

Cordislumen (Tentative Name) progress

2009-05-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

Wow... last little while has been piss poor blogging performance for me, hasn't it? I apologize, many things have been happening in my professional life, the majority of which I do not feel comfortable sharing online.

Anyway, onto the cool stuff.

Cordislumen (Tentative Name) progress part 1 from Andrew Parnell on Vimeo.

I just finished building one of the ... I believe three ... components of my next piece. (Tentatively known as Cordislumen, hence forth not referred to by name). In function it's like the system of pulleys in my last piece. But practically speaking...it works so much nicer. In part this is because I'm not having to deal with co-opting a piece of building infrastructure (though, I did really like that element of Tangólumen) and also because I learned a lot from Tango's design, and was able to better design this one.

This portion of the project contains an outlet, a dimmer switch, and a servo (and for now: a dirty rubber band). The servo operates the dimmer, which in turn controls the amount of current going through one of the outlet's two sockets. (The other one delivers consistent power to the micro-controller / servo via a wall wart.) This is a really nice way to control an outlet...because in all truth, full source voltage is scary, scary stuff.

Some more photos...right here:

Authenticity Sticker

2009-04-27T21:57:00.001-07:00

Fluid Sculpture. Sooo cool.

2009-04-20T14:50:00.001-07:00

Fluid Sculpture from Charlie Bucket on Vimeo.

Tweenbots

2009-04-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Since I first saw them on Saturday, Tweenbots seem to be making a serious buzz. This isn't a surprise really, I mean who can resist a cute cardboard robot that navigates urban landscapes through human intervention?

This is exactly the type of project I want to create. It rehuminizes this inhuman technology. There's something really sweet about it.

<3

[Tweenbots] [via NOTCOT]

Cutting Butter

2009-04-10T14:07:00.001-07:00

My cool tool fetish aside: yes.

Got a package this morning.

2009-04-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

My Mom is awesome.

2009-04-08T14:22:00.001-07:00

"Dude look at that dictionary. It's HUGE! There's a bunch of words in there." - Lindsay

What is Authenticity?

2009-04-08T01:45:00.001-07:00

It is a snap shot of time and author (/creator/designer/user where appropriate). Authenticity is irreplicable, more over, any attempts to recreate what was once authentic would fail, merely becoming mimics of something else.

The laundry room in my house is a perfect example of something I see as authentic. It's quite likely the house's only room that remains identical to when it was first built: a composition of ugly wall paper, wood panelling, green machines, and vinyl linoleum.

It would also be impossible to recreate now while maintaining authenticity. For starters: the stylistic choices in the room just are not choices that would be made today.

So what is authenticity? A decision you'll probably regret a decade or three down the line.

Maybe We Can with various emphases

2009-04-06T14:33:00.001-07:00

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Just a little experiment.

Just got an email last night...

2009-03-20T12:23:00.001-07:00

I'll be at Maker Faire in May showing off Tangólumen.

YEAH! Now I've got to figure out all the logistics.

Tangolumen Completed / Post Review Reflections

2009-03-18T01:02:00.000-07:00

After living in my studio for the better part of a week, reviews finally came, and Tangólumen was up and doing things. It wasn't doing exactly what it was supposed to...but it was doing things, and that's something.

Tangólumen In Action from Andrew Parnell on Vimeo.

People seemed to enjoy it, and I got a lot of really useful feedback ranging from what to do next, tweaks to make, things to consider, possible redirection, and so forth. Now that I've gone back and adjusted the lights and programming so that it's actually to spec, I really need to start inviting people into the space and use data I gather from that to further development.

Assemble Flooring - CHECK

2009-03-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

The flooring is 100% operational and 100% assembled. I do need to run some gaff around the perimeter to keep it in place, but that has to wait until after I glue the Vcc line into place.

[X] Strip Cat 5 cables + Glue them to the panels with conductive epoxy
[X] Assemble flooring
[ ] Attach Vc to flooring
[REDACTED] ~~Recut 1 servo-box~~
[ ] Cut 2x 1' of threaded pipe
[ ] Attach pulley rig to dimmers
[ ] Cut and crimp steel cable.

Oh man, it's so close I can almost taste it. It tastes like the floor, which, coincidentally, I've slept on the last 2 nights.

Progress Report

2009-03-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

Started putting down the wood flooring on Sunday/Monday, then ripped them all back up last night, started taping down strips of fun foam, and putting the flooring bag down last night. It's tedious (see: I am the for loop.) but the results are quite satisfying.

Even more satisfying is seeing them in action:

Daniel using the lights on top of the active panels

Daniel using the lights on top of the active panels as seen from the panel's point of view

[X] Strip Cat 5 cables + Glue them to the panels with conductive epoxy
[~50%] Assemble flooring
[ ] Attach Vc to flooring
[REDACTED] ~~Recut 1 servo-box~~
[ ] Cut 2x 1' of threaded pipe
[ ] Attach pulley rig to dimmers
[ ] Cut and crimp steel cable.

I just went home for about an hour, and returned with the following:

2009-03-11T00:44:00.001-07:00

Seven cans of dr pepper
A bag of pistachios
Oregon Chai
A block of cheese
Tortillas
A toaster oven
Two eggs
Waffle mix
A waffle iron
An electric mixer
A coffee grinder
A costco bag of coffee
A quart of 2% milk
Slippers
Pajama pants
and a blanket.

...that's not a good sign.

I am the for loop.

2009-03-07T01:41:00.001-08:00

There's one thing that seems nearly thematic in my current project: repetition.

This is a side effect of the modular design I'm really proud of across the board in this project, but at the same time it's making the assembly portion of fabrication really repetitive.

Some examples:

There are 64 pieces of chipboard in this project, each with a 17" long strip of aluminum tape running up their center. Each piece is then taped into a grid, with cat 5 cables shared among every eight panels.

When I designed all the acrylic pieces for the pulley system, I designed it around an interchangeable system of pieces. Six pieces combine to make 1 part, there are 32 parts in this system, meaning that I cut 192 pieces (not including extras, or the pulleys). Cutting took ~30 minutes (well, an hour, but that's because I had to do it twice), assembling them was another story all together.

Review prep checklist:
[19/64] Strip Cat 5 cables + Glue them to the panels with conductive epoxy
[ ] Assemble flooring
[ ] Attach Vc to flooring
[ ] Recut 1 servo-box
[ ] Cut 2x 1' of threaded pipe
[ ] Attach pulley rig to dimmers
[ ] Cut and crimp steel cable.

i++;

In most cultures...

2009-03-04T21:55:00.001-08:00

a thin, sharp, piece of aluminum would be called "a knife." Still, because I've been calling it tape, I was really surprised when I just cut my finger.

...moron.

Bacon We Can

2009-03-02T08:54:00.001-08:00

Saw this image on my desktop as I was cleaning it up and I realized I never got around to posting it. Can't believe it.

Bacon served by Bacolicio.us.

[via swissmiss]

Key to surviving on under 4 hours of sleep:

2009-03-02T08:07:00.001-08:00

Drink a large coffee right before bed. Once the placebo effect of having just drank a large coffee wears off, you have a bit under 4 hours until the caffeine actually hits yourself and sends you flying out of bed at breakneck speeds.

It's actually kinda nice.

Some Assembly Required

2009-03-02T01:00:00.001-08:00

The downside to laser cutting is that if you want undercuts, you basically have to create them as separate pieces and then laminate them together. The upside is that they look, and are, awesome.

Last leg of cutting is scheduled for tomorrow. Then I just have to cut the threaded rods down length and assemble.

2009-03-01T22:14:00.001-08:00

"The secret to success is being able to make mistakes faster" - Stuart McFarlan <- yes

Prototype

2009-02-26T00:21:00.000-08:00

Untitled from Andrew Parnell on Vimeo.

We Have Decided Not To Die

2009-02-25T00:27:00.000-08:00

We have decided not to die | 2004 from Nick on Vimeo.

...wow. Did you watch that? I just watched that. Wow.

...ok, some of the cgi is a bit iffy, but the video in general, it's just great. I really like the use of mixed timelines. <3

Food note

2009-02-25T00:10:00.001-08:00

Chicken + asparagus + parmesan + ground salt and pepper pistachios = great on pasta. (Sorry, no pictures tonight.)

Fun With Lasers

2009-02-23T00:32:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I've given a project update here. In part because I've been really busy (1 job, 2 internships, and school) but mostly because I'm trying to find a way to tell you all about my progress / what I'm doing without giving away the ending.

I don't think I'm risking too much with this update, so here it goes.

The project I've been working on involves a lot of both large and small scale work. The small scale stuff requires a lot of parts to be fabricated. This gave me an excuse to design stuff to be made on the laser cutter we have in the building here.

Last week I cut some test pieces:

Which I then assembled into a 3d form so they can serve their purpose of joining threaded rod at perfect 90 degree angles.

Eventually I'm going to cut a few more of these (with modifications made, this is a learning experience.) and eventually wind up with this:

For now though I've gotta say, lasers are just awesome.

Made For Each Other

2009-02-16T02:41:00.001-08:00

Goodby , Silverstein & Partners has come out with a series of wonderful ads for Frito-Lays, just in time for Valentines day.

My favorite of these is definitely Fire Sprite, which features a cute little flame burning everyone it tries to get close to (we've all be in that relationship, right?) There does seem to be a bit of a non-sequitor between the animations and frito-lays chips and dip, but they're so cute and wonderful that I'll forgive it.

In addition to these wonderful ad-spots, they also rolled out an accompanying webpage: madeforeachother.com. It takes forever to load, but it's really fun to explore.

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners really has a wonderful use of texture as color that is evident in all their animations, as well as in the webpage.

And now, for your enjoyment: some of the couples you can pair up on madeforeachother.com

Just to show a few...

O.L.S.G.P. PASTA

2009-02-16T01:00:00.001-08:00

O.L.S.G.P. stands for Onions, Leeks, Sausage, Garlic and Parmesan. I know, clever title for this recipe, oh well.

I've been working a lot lately, and earlier in the week things got truly desperate as I found myself to be down to just some pasta, a bag of onions, and a bag of pre-grated parmesan (and a few other things, but nothing else that could potentially be combined).

At the time I was also sick, and I wasn't about to go to the store anytime soon.

So I sliced the onions really thin, caramelized them with some garlic, boiled the pasta, and threw on some cheese. Cheap, quick, easy, edible.

Today I finally went and hit up the store, and I came back to this recipe. Deciding I wanted to expand on it some, I got some leeks, italian sausage, and a block of parmesan.

The onion is still the star of this recipe though, so there's a good bit of onion.

Here's the recipe:

1 package italian sausage
2 onions
2 leeks
8 cloves of garlic
Half a box of angel hair pasta
Block of parmesan.

Put a big pan over medium heat. Brown and drain your sausage. (If it is in a skin, remove it from the skin.) Remove the sausage from the pan, and set aside.

Reduce the pan to medium-low heat. Slice your onions and leeks really thin and throw them into the pan. Don't touch them! Let them sit for a little bit and start to caramelize and brown. Don't let them sit too long though, or they'll start to burn.

While the onions and leeks are caramelizing, chop your garlic. By the time you finish doing this should probably be a good time to toss the onions for the first time. Add the garlic at this point.

While this is cooking, boil some water and cook up your pasta. I did a half a box, but really how much you make is up to you.

Toss the onions every so often to prevent burning. Once they're all brown and soft, and the garlic is soft, you're pretty much done. Drain your pasta, toss it with the onions, leeks, sausage and garlic and serve. Grate parmesan on top.

Chairs!

2009-02-15T11:52:00.001-08:00

I got some free chairs off craigslist. All but one of them needed repair (dowel replacement). A bag of ribbed joining dowels cost me $1.99, so effectively I spent 50 cents a chair. HURRAY!

I still have to fix the last one, but once I do I'll have 2 pairs of matching chairs.

I finally have a place to sit at my table.

Start your day off right...

2009-02-10T08:59:00.001-08:00

With an amazingly executed stop motion music video featuring the most compelling characters I've ever seen created from some of the most basic geometric shapes.

Mykonos from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

[via shape+colour]

Anti-representationalism

2009-02-08T21:35:00.001-08:00

Well it is. Well, I guess this isn't, but that's sort of the conundrum of showing you a photo of something that exists in the real world....

There's a part of me that wants to drop the $550 for a last minute plane ticket to London...

2009-02-06T23:57:00.001-08:00

Xbox Live Vision

2009-02-06T19:37:00.001-08:00

The Xbox Live Vision is an excellent webcam. You can find it for about $15 on ebay and it uses a universal driver, making it compatible with pretty much any computer without hassling with drivers. This makes it an ideal choice for interactive video installations. I used two of them in The Eye. But if regular visual data isn't enough? Modify it to see infrared!

I really need some exposed film.

Scott Pilgrim #5

2009-02-05T23:59:00.003-08:00

Oni was at Floating World for a First Thursday Scott Pilgrim #5 release party, and I dropped by.

First of all, the book is just plain sexy. Look at that foil cover. Purdy. Secondly...I still haven't opened it. I'm getting antsy, but I haven't had a chance. Tomorrow night is going to be Scott Pilgrim read-it-up night for me.

Some other Scott Pilgrim related goodness:

I picked up a few of these at the release, you can download them at Cubeecraft.

And finally, if you read the book, you probably already know all about this, but just incase you don't: look how perfect this casting is.

DOOM Stew

2009-02-05T00:11:00.001-08:00

I made a potroast about a week back, and it's been sitting in my fridge since.

Not wanting it to go bad, I decided to do something with it tonight.

Really simple, really delicious, and like any proper beef meal: really manly.

Here's the recipe (Sorry, I didn't measure a damn thing):

Put a pot over medium heat with a splash of olive oil.
Cube precooked pot roast with gravy.
Throw in cubed onions, cook until edges just begin to carmelize
Throw in 1 bottle of beer
Add chopped:
Mushrooms
Carrots
Celery
Potatoes
Dice 6 cloves of garlic
Add 1 cup water, simmer until cooked.

Eat. Grow chest hair. Enjoy.

Teen Lover's

2009-02-04T23:42:00.001-08:00

The Virgins - Teen Lovers from inyourfaceTV on Vimeo.

Talk about a great music video. Director Ace Norton took a wonderful concept, and made it amazing. And those "stills" .... SO GREAT.

[via Shape+Colour]

I'm bringing it back.

2009-02-03T01:37:00.001-08:00

I've been working 13 out of 14 days the last 2 weeks, and am going to continue to do so the next 2 weeks, so I haven't really had as much time to bake/cook. (Or grocery shop)

But I made a batch of White Chocolate Cranberry cookies last week, and while they came out good, they needed improvement.

So I remade them tonight.

Here's the recipe if you're interested:

Preheat the oven to 375

2/3 cup butter flavored shortening (not butter. It drastically effects the final product)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces white chocolate
8 ounces dried cranberries.

Scoop onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

Excitement.

2009-02-02T23:27:00.001-08:00

We're building up to something....

God I love Pixilation

2009-01-26T23:01:00.001-08:00

I think Jeremy(Shape+Colour) got it right when he said "his song makes me feel like I'm walking down the street at dusk the moment before the streetlights turn on."

[Via Shape+Colour]

2009-01-25T23:22:00.001-08:00

"Beyond a certain age, sincerity ceases to feel pornographic"

...I like that.

Catching Up

2009-01-25T01:45:00.001-08:00

I'm catching up on the last few weeks of reading for Zara's class, and I just finished reading Chapter 2 from The Society of the Spectacle.

Holy crap.

Reading that thing made my head spin. I'm hoping that it's just a side effect of translation, but there is so much double talk in that thing I had to read each paragraph over about three times.

Having gotten through it though, I must admit that I really dig it. It really fits nicely with a piece I started work on the other night.

I dig this quote (which seems to be rephrased and reiterated at least a dozen times in this chapter) "...the real world is replaced by a selection of images which are projected above it, yet which at the same time succeed in making themselves regarded as the epitome of reality."

Awesome.

I can't help but find myself thinking about Magritte's Treachery of Images though...

Nothing Is Original

2009-01-22T11:49:00.001-08:00

[via swissmiss]

Greg Laswell - How The Day Sounds

2009-01-22T11:45:00.001-08:00

How The Day Sounds from Miky Wolf on Vimeo.

Simplistically sweet music video...with Elija Wood...

I just love it.

[Via NOTCOT]

Where I was going

2009-01-22T11:34:00.001-08:00

when I fell.

(This is NOT where I was. This picture is of the successful try. When I fell I was at the top of the wall at the top of the steps. Way less straight drop.)

Please forgive the quick photoshop stitch job.

This has been a long time coming

2009-01-16T21:19:00.001-08:00

Magic

2009-01-15T13:39:00.001-08:00

A wet wash cloth, a running fan, a few advil and five extra hours of sleep are a magical combination.

Ugo Conti's Proteus Wamvi

2009-01-14T23:29:00.001-08:00

I think I'm on an inventive vehicle kick (I've got a couple blog posts waiting in the wings about diy snowboards, and a pretty sweet snowboard brand) but this may very well take the cake.

I really relate to Conti's quote saying "If I have a problem I tend to solve it with my engineering capabilities. I was born an engineer." I may be trained as an artist/designer, but I think like an engineer. I'm fairly certain it's genetic.

Uni Wristwatch

2009-01-14T23:20:00.001-08:00

This is pretty cool. The face on this watch, qixen-p's Uni, is a 96x96 pixel OLED, and can be customized over mini USB. Just wish I could find the price.

[via Unplggd]

Joe Harmon's Wooden Supercar

2009-01-13T00:16:00.001-08:00

While I was down in the bay area, I spent some time visiting my optometrist. My vision is deteriorating (it's still not horrible...but its way worse than it was ~3 years ago) and snowboarding without something to correct my vision is far more exciting than it is fun.

While waiting for the follow up to my contacts fitting, I was flipping through a car magazine that was laying there, and I came across this:

Joe Harmon is a grad student in industrial design at North Carolina State University. This supercar is his thesis project and it's made (almost) entirely out of wood. Not carved from a giant block, but made of wooden composites, cut from veneer, woven on a loom, and then infused with resin. It's super cool, super strong, and just all around neat. Especially if you're a materials nut.

Some really cool stuff:

Wooo 2009

2009-01-05T02:25:00.001-08:00

Three things.
1) Happy New Year everybody! Hope yours was as great as mine.
2) As of 90 minutes ago, I'm back in Portland
3) @Zach Rose: Baked fries are GREAT if you spray them lightly with olive oil and bake them on a rack. This is also known as air frying and its... its the bees knees. It's just tops.

(edit: Okay, I lied, there's a fourth thing. I've got about 3-5 blog posts waiting in the wings to be written and posted. Lots of cool stuff. Yep)

Escape from Portland

2008-12-25T21:05:00.001-08:00

Happy holidays one and all!

I'd like to share with you the tale of my escape from Portland.

Between Friday and Sunday 8~10 inches of snow fell on Portland, royally screwing things up. The cold killed off my already weak car battery leaving me in the hands of public transit for getting around. Sunday this was fine, but on Monday, an hour after I arrived at work, service on my route was cancelled. In order to get home, I had to take a bus that got me within a mile of my house, and then hiked the rest of the way home.

The snow was deep. (And largely non-shovelled and non-compressed.)

Tuesday the snow had stopped falling, but the roads were still covered in snow. My bus route was still cancelled. Airport shuttles were not running, and taxis would only pick you up if you were medical personnel trying to get to a hospital.

Tuesday also happened to be the day I was flying out. This lack of easy transit nearly had me thinking I was going to have to hike to the airport, which would have...well, it would have sucked hard, and probably would have kept me from leaving. After some serious research into the status of various bus and MAX lines, I eventually found a way to get to the airport.

It took a half mile snow hike (with luggage), a bus down Lombard to the MAX yellow line, a shuttle that was running to supplement the yellow line because the switches were frozen, two more MAX lines (blue to Gateway, Red to the airport) and a total of two hours to get to the airport.

Thankfully I gave myself 7 hours to get from my house to catch my flight, so I still had 5 hours to kill. Also working in my favor: I wasn't the only one who had a hard time getting to the airport.

Because of this... shall we say... shabby attendance, I managed to get on standby for an earlier flight, and despite the fact that people had been able to fly out of Portland for the three days prior, I managed to get on the flight, and arrive in San Francisco an hour before my original flight was scheduled to leave.

Which was great... since when I later checked my flight, it got delayed three and a half hours.

Tweet.

2008-12-23T00:33:00.001-08:00

Have I mentioned that I've succumb to twitter?

...Well, I have.

Oh internet (Tim Biskup)

2008-12-22T01:59:00.001-08:00

I love how often the internet seems to bring me to great coincidences.

A link from Diesel Sweeties brought me to this episode of BoingBoing TV which features a studio visit with Tim Biskup.

This got me looking at Biskup's work, which I love. (His texturing and simplistic shapes remind me a lot of another painter who's work I love: Shag. Gotta love artists with similar influences!)

I particularly like his pieces with his recurring character Helper. In the studio visit he describes Helper as "this conflicted deamon" and I think he does an amazing job capturing that.

Then, after drooling over various pieces, and wishing I could afford large prints by awesome people, I came across this photo a friend put up on facebook.

That's right, Colin Williams has a Helper star. How sweet is that?

I Saw You

2008-12-22T01:25:00.001-08:00

Hey Dustin, have you seen this book? Could be interesting to see how someone else approached a similar topic.

For those of you that don't know Dustin and his work, lately he's been doing a series of animations based on local missed connections ads. They're pretty sweet.

Thanks for All the Snuggletimes (work-in-progress)

Snowed In

2008-12-21T01:28:00.001-08:00

A considerable amount of snow fell today (no idea the actual depth) so I bunkered down at home and watched a bunch of movies I had yet to see. (Can you believe I hadn't seen 40 year old virgin before now?)

I also disassembled semaphore-bot v2.0 and built a robot arm out of its servos, aluminum rods, and rubber bands. It's got 3 points of articulation, but currently no hand. Unfortunately my arduino is in my studio at the stag. ... so it's not currently running.

Quick Illustration

2008-12-20T01:06:00.001-08:00

I haven't one any drawing in a few months, but tonight the urge hit me. So I sat down and drew this up.

Definitely got what I was going for, but I really want to see this printed large, as part of a series.

Gel Remote

2008-12-17T19:40:00.001-08:00

I've seen this thing before, but all the information about it had been in Japanese. Good to see it making the rounds on the internet in English.

Once you get past the initial "I wonder if they ever used that tech in a sex toy" impulses (who said that? ...not me...no sir), there's still a lot of interesting things going on with that remote.

[via Make] [via NextNature] [via The Popular Uncanny]

(Normally I only link to the first site I read it on, but this trail is great because The Popular Uncanny has info on another project from that show: fruit skinned juice boxes)

Belgian Endive

2008-12-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

Finally found a grocer in portland that sells belgian endive (Trader Joes) so I made some yesterday, stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in prosciutto and puff pastry.

It came out perfect, but really, this is a dish that's next to impossible to mess up.

The Recipe
Thaw 1 sheet of puff pastry and cut it into quarters.

Roll one of the quarters large enough to completely wrap around your endive.

Place enough prosciutto to completely wrap your endive on the puff pastry. (Honestly, deli ham works just as well, I just happened to go with prosciutto this time)

Take your endive and core it (I use a pairing knife for this, just basically sticking it in the bottom and twisting it around)

Stuff the hole with blue cheese.

Crumble some more blue cheese on the proscuitto, because lets face it: blue cheese is good, especially baked.

Place your endive ontop of the proscuitto, and wrap the whole thing up, sealing the puff pastry.

Bake @350 for ~45 minutes, or until golden brown.

Caution: Baking the endive causes it to release a lot of steam, which is trapped by the pastry. When you first cut into this thing, give it a minute or so to cool before biting into it, or you'll find yourself doing a serious reverse blow.

Enjoy!

California Love

2008-12-13T00:01:00.001-08:00

Really diggin' this piece from french animation school Gobelins.

I love the cell-shaded, stylized 3d work, but more than that I love the little details that set the time period without ever explicitly stating them. The game boy, the flannel, and best of all the Los Angeles Raiders hat. The Raiders were in LA from '82-'94, the game boy was released in North America in '89, and flannel: total staple of the early '90s wardrobe. Excellent!

Female posturing makes me cringe a little... Those poor spines.

[Via NOTCOT]

I've noticed...

2008-12-12T21:53:00.001-08:00

NPH + Singing always equals awesome.

Prop 8 the musical is no exception.

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, NPH and many more... by Jack Black

[Via WWdN: In Exile]

Cornish Game Hen

2008-12-11T23:50:00.000-08:00

Made a cornish game hen with parmesan rice stuffing tonight. The hen came out alright, but the stuffing was AMAZING.

You should be warned: I don't really measure when I cook. (Baking, yes, but cooking, not so much.) So all these measurements are estimates.

The Stuffing
Melt 1/4 cup butter in a sauce pan.
Saute 1/2 chopped onion
Add half a cup rice
~1 cup white wine
~1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Let simmer until the rice is fully cooked.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Rub the hen inside and out with olive oil.
Mix together equal parts salt, pepper, cinnamon, basil and garlic powder.
Rub the hen inside and out.
Stuff full of stuffing. (Wow... that sounds dumb when I say it)
Place in a roasting pan breast side up.
Roast for 1 hour.
When finished do NOT forget that you just left the roasting pan in a 350 degree oven for an hour and grab the lid with your bare hands. (Yep... did that)

As I said earlier, I'm really happy with how the stuffing came out. I wasn't as pleased with the hen though, the skin was delicious, but once I got past that, it was a little bland. Next time I either need to use more spice, or marinade it in something.

Quiche

2008-12-11T03:08:00.001-08:00

I made a quiche today, inspired by a quiche my former roommate Stacy and I used to make. I don't have the recipe for that particular quiche, nor did I have all the ingredients it used (it used evaporated milk) so I made up a recipe as I went. It came out pretty well.

Since this is the first thing I've posted here where I used my own recipe, I have no problem sharing it with you all.

Rules of 3 Quiche
(aka Spinach Quiche)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Put a pie crust in a pan, filled with pie weights, and bake for 10 minutes

While it's baking beat together:
3 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup cottage cheese
1 cup cooked chopped spinach
1/3 cup parmesan cheese

Dash of paprika
Dash of garlic powder
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper

Remove the pie weights from the crust and fill with the beat egg mix.
Bake until firm. (I started with 45 minutes, but I think it wound up taking an hour)

I'm fairly happy with the results. If I make it again though I think I'll do it with 1/3 cup less cottage cheese and an extra egg.

Today...

2008-12-10T02:03:00.001-08:00

I woke up and put on my work uniform. I'm now taking it off to go to bed. While it was a relatively good day at work, the above mentioned circumstances are my definition of a bad day.

Semaphore-Bot v3.1

2008-12-08T15:25:00.001-08:00

Semaphore-Bot 3.0 never saw an audience because his arms were too long/heavy for the motors. Last minute design change later, v3.1 was born.

A few thoughts on the review:

While I agree that the design/construction of the bot needs to be cleaned up a bit, and I may have to reconsider how I approach the flags, I think too much of my review was spent discussing the bot himself.

The piece is as much about the robot as a webpage is about the computer or a phone call is about the phone.

Before I next show it to people I really do need to finish the complete installation, that means create the key cards so that people who are intrigued enough by the motion will try to assertain the message. This will also give a hint as to the meaning of the flags.

On the subject of "why semaphore / why flags?" As far as I know semaphore is the most reciever invested means of communication. Maybe morse code is equally or more so... Morse code is definitely more recognized... this may require exploration.

One happy accident during the critique was a set of loose screws, combined with the occasional contact between arms caused one of the gear boxes to fall apart. While unintentional, this definitely falls in line with my thesis that the load of modern communication is destroying the value of communication itself. (The bot is communication incarnate.)

Triumph Breakfast

2008-12-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I woke up after a little over 12 hours of sleep. It was wonderful. Since I got back in town Monday I'd been sleeping 2-3 hours a night on my couch (knowing full well that if I slept in my bed, there would be no waking me). I'd get home at 5 am, crash, wake up at 8, and go back to the studio.

Toward the end of the week the combination of lack of sleep, and poor eating habits were really getting to me. I was moody, and at times a careless (see: I had a mental lapse and grabbed the hot end of a soldering iron.)

But it was all worth it. I got my piece finished in time and went through a fairly successful review. A lot of questions were posed that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise, and some fabrication errors presented themselves to bring a possible new direction to the project.

When I woke up Saturday, I decided it was time to celebrate. And in my world, there is only one way to celebrate: food. So I made spinach bacon eggs benedict!

Start with fresh home made biscuits, topped with spinach sauteed in white wine:

Add a couple strips of bacon:

Next: 2 perfectly poached eggs (ie: yolks still soft)

And finally coat in hollendais sauce:

(I let mine sit about 5 seconds too long and it started to curdle. Unfortunate, but still delicious.)

Soooo good.

Ska Is Dead 4!

2008-12-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

Ska Is Dead just announced their fourth tour, featuring The Toasters, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Deal's Gone Bad, Mustard Plug (Jan 23-25), Buck-O-Nine (Feb 3-8), and Monkey (Jan 22-Feb 1)! I'm very excited!!!!

The show hits Portland Friday, January 30th, and tickets are only $13. Who wants to join me? (Hint: everyone!)

...Ska in Oregon! Yay!

My first contribution to the Arduino Playground

2008-12-05T23:24:00.001-08:00

The Arduino: Playground has given me so much that I felt it was time to contribute back.

So I wrote this article: Arduino + PERL

Blogger Upgrade

2008-12-05T22:42:00.001-08:00

Apparently blogger upgraded one of the backend pieces of their atom / rss feeds, migrating from OpenSearch 1.1 to OpenSearch RSS 1.0.

There aren't a lot of people this really effects, but since this blog is driven by a blogger feed, it screwed with me for a second.

Foul Mood?

2008-12-05T02:37:00.001-08:00

I recommend maple bacon

Thanks for curing my grumpies Voodoo!

(image ruthlessly stolen via google image search from this blog...just attributing. Cause my camera battery is dead.)

Semaphore-bot v3.0.alpha

2008-12-04T03:43:00.001-08:00

Untitled from Andrew Parnell on Vimeo.

Semaphore-bot 3.0 is on its way!

I went through and rewrote the control code from the ground up in PERL, letting me eliminate processing from the equation all together and making everything run more efficiently.

I also built some gear boxes so that I no longer need to stack servos.

All in all, major improvements all around.

Tomorrow I rebuild the casing and get it ready for show.

Interested in the script? Click here!

...actually... [PERL here] [Arduino here]

Klutz

2008-11-30T21:51:00.001-08:00

I'm still at my parents house in California (until my 6 am flight tomorrow) and I found an old Klutz book sitting on my shelf. (Specifically a Klutz Aerobe book)

After reading it through, and completely loving it, I decided to hit up Klutz's website to read up a bit more on the company.

On the bottom of the about us page I saw this line "For those of you who collect corporate mission statements, here's the Klutz credo: "

Collect corporate mission statements? I've never heard such a thing. But really, they tend to be modern day equivalents of Confucian doctrine, so it's a neat idea (there I go using the word neat again.).

I'm going to begin my collection with Klutz: Create wonderful things, be good, have fun.

I'm down in the Bay Area

2008-11-26T03:43:00.001-08:00

I'm down in the Bay Area and the internet was down for the last 4 hours. But that's ok. I'm on vacation.

Note to self: always double check ratios when ording gears.

2008-11-23T18:53:00.001-08:00

I'm a little irritated with myself. I ordered some servos, servo gears, shafting, and plain bore gears last night, and while doodling up schematics today, I realized that I reversed the ratio in my order. Seriously lame.

I went back and ordered the propper ratio (4:1 not 1:4). What irritates me is that if I'd gotten it right the first time, I would have saved a buck, this way I spent an extra twenty-three.

Lesson learned.

Amazing Feat of Makeup and Lighting

2008-11-22T16:02:00.001-08:00

This is pretty amazing. The women pictured above are all the same woman, made up and lit to look like she's 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old.

She's actually 20.

...I'm not sure why she's topless at 10 and 20 though...

[via NOTCOT]

Lesson Learned

2008-11-22T03:29:00.001-08:00

Wind sprints are for out doors, or at least, not for 3 am when Dom is asleep down stairs.

...sorry.

Pastry Experiments

2008-11-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, and brought them with me to school on Thursday.

Baked goods have a strange socializing ability. They spark conversation. Questions, comments, anecdotes, and eating. They're pretty much the ultimate ice breaker.

Last night I made a(nother) cheesecake, and brought it to school to share. I feel like I've stumbled upon something. Now I just need to figure out how to go forward with it.

...I'm thinking lemon bars.

My First Instructable!

2008-11-16T13:23:00.001-08:00

One of my socks gave out yesterday, giving me all the material I need to make a slick little electronics sleeve, so I decided to document the process and put it up on instructables.

- More cool how to projects

I wish I spoke french...

2008-11-15T15:51:00.001-08:00

but even without understanding the words, I get the gist.

Le caf�lt;/a>
by pheneu_et_meleu