Topher Cyll

Japanther plays a show with the Aquadoom synchronized swimmers.

posted on: 12/24/2006 | path: /life

(Noggin: Now in Tea Form!)

There's always something new to try.

(WaffleSandwich -- score.)

posted on: 12/22/2006 | path: /life

It's going to be a green Christmas here. But I'm not too worried about it. Who needs snow? If we have a warm winter this year, I won't complain.

(I'm ready if it does decide to snow -- check out this awesome hat Amanda knit me!)

Things are exciting right now. I took a job at a startup called Adverplex, and I'm starting on January 8th. This was a huge decision and involved a lot of hyperventilating, but in the end it came down to the fact that grad school isn't going anywhere and this looked like fun. Not to mention all my grad school friends look stressed out.

Unfortunately, this meant I'd need a car to drive to work in Wakefield. Luckily the drive isn't bad, and people seem to shift their hours a little later to avoid traffic.

(This car is named Earl.)

So... I bought a car yesterday night. His name is Earl. I'll tell you more later, but you've got to understand that Earl is going to have a lot of bumper stickers.

(Earl, put it away!)

posted on: 12/22/2006 | path: /life

Anna and I went to see Joanna Newsom tonight at the Somerville Theatre. There's a lot I could write about the unhappy man in front of us or the weird band that played first. But it sort of pales compared to the main show.

Ms. Newsom opened with songs from The Milk Eyed Mender, but then she (and her band) played straight through the new album (Ys -- released today).

(Why the long face?)

She writes lyrics like I wish I could write anything. And when she played Sadie and Peach, Plum, Pear for an encore, well I've never heard so many people scream for more harp music. She's a rock star all right.

posted on: 11/14/2006 | path: /life

I promised pictures, so here's a few.

(Are you diggin these colors?)

(My flatmate, Miss Sarah Hitomi Croft)

(My home office)

My bedroom is still in progress, but I'll post pictures when I'm done.

posted on: 11/13/2006 | path: /life

Man, it's raining out. With weather like this, I can't believe I'm not in the Northwest.

(Wait till you see my snowsuit!)

posted on: 11/13/2006 | path: /life

October 31st: Yesterday. My birthday. Portland.

November 1st: Today. A new year. Boston.

I've had a really good year. And I can trace it all back to this day, exactly one year ago, when I started National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo kick started my life in some strange ways. In the past year I...

• wrote a 50,000 word novel in 16 days.
• wrote a published article about Ruby recieved my first writing check.
• organized a 72 person album recording month and recorded my own 32 minute album.
• began writing a Ruby book for Apress and finished three chapters so far.

I know it's poor taste to brag, and I guess that's what this post is, but I'm really proud of my year and it feels right to commemorate it. I won't have a chance to do National Novel Writing Month this time around (I'm too busy with my Ruby book), but I'll be cheering all my Nanowrimo friends on.

It's been one heck of year. Wish me luck on this next one, and if you're in Boston, drop me a line!

posted on: 11/01/2006 | path: /life

It's my birthday!

posted on: 10/31/2006 | path: /life

I sold my car yesterday. Betsy, or Old Blue as she was more affectionately called has been in my family for close to 10 years. But you can't take a car in your suitcase, and I'm pretty sure my oh-my-god-i-have-no-car-what-if-i-need-to-drive-somewhere shakes will settle down soon.

Beeeeetsy!

And now I'm putting my shoes in the trash. I bought 'em two years ago, and I remember they didn't fit very well. Well they fit just fine now.

But here's the news that I guess I forgot to mention. I'm moving to Boston on November 1st. Portland, OR has been a blast like I never expected, but roots call and I think it's time to go home.

Intel is going to let me work remotely for the near future, so I'll be living in Cambridge with Sarah Croft and spending a week or two in Maine when I feel like it. This is a new kind of flexibility. I'm still getting accustomed.

Graduate school is just around the corner, my book's coming along, and heck, I think I'm even mostly packed. But Portland, man, I'm gonna miss this.

posted on: 10/26/2006 | path: /life

Went longboarding (that's with a skateboard, not a surfboard) today for the first time. Whoa. I think I'm hooked.

posted on: 09/06/2006 | path: /life

I went to see Menomena play at the Doug Fir last night. Jeremy and I bought our tickets, but decided to grab some beer first. We wandered down to check out Holocene, but turned around when we found out they had a cover.

This is about when we attacked by the dog. As we walked by the truck, I looked down and did the "Oh crap, there's something there!"-jump-and-startle. By the time I landed I was already doing the "Oh my god, he's lunging at me!"-throw-myself-backwards. You could see it was part pitbull, and it had definitely been raised mean.

Jeremy managed to get out of the thing's way. I was mostly in the bushes, directing wild kicks at its head, desperately wishing I'd worn my Docs. Thankfully, while it lunged a couple of times, it never got close to me, and neither of us connected.

When it backed off, I sprinted over to Jeremy. We're standing there a block away, looking back stunned, when a head pops out of the back of the truck.

"What the hell's going on out there?"

"Your dog just f---ing attacked us!"

"That's what you get for walking at night!"

Man, what an evening. I've had people new to Portland ask me what parts of town to avoid. I always mention Near East Portland along with the few other bad spots, but from now on, I'll be taking my own advice.

Anyways, Jeremey and wandered over to "My Father's Place," ordered some late evening breakfast food and a pitcher to steady our nerves.

In the all the excitement, we missed the opening bands. I'd like to hear Boy Eats Drum Machine someday, because I like the name, but they open a lot, so it should be no problem.

I liked the show Menomena played, and they had a pretty novel sound. The three band members took turns doing vocals. And as Jeremy said "No one really dominated, although you could tell the bass player would have liked to." Which is too bad, because I thought the stuff featuring the keyboard player/guitarist or the drummer was more compelling. Anyways, fun show.

posted on: 08/27/2006 | path: /life

I meant to make this post a long time ago. But check it out, my first writing check (from my If It's Not Nailed Down Steal It article, which I've just noticed is the first search result for that phrase =).

(Am I a real writer yet? Or do I need to wait for the book to come out?)

I hope it's the first of many to come. In other writing news, the first chapter of Ruby Projects for the Curious Programmer is due this Monday and I'm almost done with it!

posted on: 08/26/2006 | path: /life

When I first moved off the train line into NW Portland, my single biggest regret was the 15 minute walk in the morning and the afternoon.

I have to say, I've really grown to like the walk. Especially the morning one when it's still cool out. Even when I time it right to catch the bus, I usually walk anyways. I'm sure the real explanation is that the weather is nicer now than it was when I first moved in. But I like it.

posted on: 08/26/2006 | path: /life

Tara and I went to see a Japanther show on Monday. It was awesome.

Show Me The Pink opened with a sort of performance-art-synth-punk. I'd like to see these guys again, maybe a show with Here Comes a Big Black Cloud (who are sort of the same genre). The middle band, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb was mediocre.

Japanther was great, and the crowd went absolultely crazy. I missed them the last time they were in town. They played a basement show and Troy tells me it was so packed that at one point he was hanging from the ceiling to avoid getting crushed.

At first I was a touch worried about Tara, but I'm happy to report she can take care of her self just fine, thank you. In fact I'm pretty sure I saw her throw a couple of punches in when the pit tried to invade our personal space. Rock on. (I'm, uh, mostly lying).

Which brings me another topical subject. I am now fufilling my life long(?) dream of dating a Portland barista. Tara's taken a job serving coffee which I happen to think is pretty awesome. Of course, as she says "I've gone from being someone unusual by virtue of working in politics, to just another Portlander serving coffee. Sigh."

Yeah... but you're a *barista*! Don't try to tell me that's not awesome.

posted on: 08/24/2006 | path: /life

Well, Mardi Gras came and went. And by Mardi Gras, I mean OSCON/FOSCON. Which leaves me smack dab in the middle of writing territory.

Which deserves some explanation. I am working on writing a professional book about the Ruby programming language. It's a project/hacks book for people who love Ruby and people who love programming, and I think it will be pretty cool. ;-) Of course, I do still need to actually write it.

Thankfully, I've figured out how to use Microsoft Word and the templates I'm supposed to be using, and I'm now well on my way... through the first chapter, that is. My editor has given me until August 28th to finish this chapter, so wish me luck!

posted on: 08/07/2006 | path: /life

Well, Oso is gone and I miss her. But we had a great day yesterday. I have no pictures since my camera battery was dead, but we took a walk to the park and ate lunch with Tom and Natalie. Later I left Oso with Tara (terr-ah) and went to my first guitar lesson.

I'm studying with Rod Ewald and its hard to imagine me being more excited. I played today after work on the porch until my fingers hurt, even though I should be getting ready for my FOSCON II presentation.

Can you believe it's supposed to be 100 degrees tomorrow? At least there's no humidity.

posted on: 07/20/2006 | path: /life

"Oso!!!" I shouted as stepped through the door. Tara (pronounced "tar-ah", not to be confused with my Tara, pronounced "ter-ah") was back to stay for a few days, and she brought the little dog Oso too.

I'll be working from home tomorrow to get in a little more dog time. Pictures will follow, I'm sure.

posted on: 07/18/2006 | path: /life

Or is that "Plays Portland"? It's not clear to me if Phantom Buffalo, the band name, is singular or plural. You see, a week ago, Evan Carroll emailed me. The Ponys from Portland, Maine had become Phantom Buffalo he said, and not only that, they were playing a house party in Portland, Oregon. Crazed with excitement, he wrote:

I HOPE YOU CAN MAKE THEIR CONCERT IN WHERE YOU ARE. I SHOULD BE GOING TO SEE THEM TOMORROW EVENING. AND YES. . . I CAUGHT THE WEASELS TOO. (NOT MEASELS)

Nevermind about the weasels, but fast foward to last Friday. Amanda and Craig were along for the ride. We almost didn't find the house. But nestled in a quiet residential area, the punk house was made obvious by the army of bikes resting on the lawn. If the posters were to be believed, the house was known as The Multiverse, or maybe the inhabitants were?

Someone had set up a "Guerilla Public House" set up in the living room. The barkeep was selling glass mason jars of homemade beer by the pint or quart.

Amanda and Craig and I sat around awkwardly as I sipped a strong beer brewed with rye. Were we the only strangers? We couldn't tell. Then, to make things even more confusing, the "handicapped" girl in the wheelchair just got up and walked off. Surreal.

The actual show took place in the basement. It was a glorious basement. Dirty and full of exposed pipes and rough wooden boards. And it was packed with instruments. One corner had even been converted into a bedrom by the simple act of hanging quilts around it.

A solo song writer played first, and I didn't catch his name. But after that, Matthew Johnson (I think) of Natural Bridges played a wonderful set in the backyard by the campfire.

Here Comes a Big Black Cloud played back in the basement. Theirs was a dark, driving sound. They had this one guy, who I got a chance to talk to later, playing both the theramin and an accordion/synthesizer hybrid to devestating effect. Their trio of costumed dancers performed zombie mime, burtal murders, and danced around.

Phantom Buffalo took the stage last. They sounded great, even in the close quarters of the basement and the audience got really into it. The first half of the show was new music and then they moved on to some old favorites to finish up. It was great to hear them again, and a once in a lifetime chance for me to hear them out here in Portland, Oregon.

posted on: 07/07/2006 | path: /life

I got my membership packet today from the American Humanist Association. There was a whole host of materials including a "signed" letter from their honorary president, Kurt Vonnegut.

In other news, Tara promoted me from my self bestowed designation of Adequate cook to Adequate Plus cook. It was my cold noodles with sesame that did the trick.

(Oso misses her mommy)

And last, but not least, I am helping watch our guest, the little dog Oso, at least until Chippy gets home to take over.

(But Oso also likes to sleep)

posted on: 06/28/2006 | path: /life

The Big House believes in science, and sometimes that belief requires us to spray Diet Coke all over the place.

PS- Stayed tuned in the next couple of weeks for Amanda and Toph's Very Bacon Tour of Portland!

posted on: 06/28/2006 | path: /life

I think I need to start working from home more.

Damn!

I was more productive and I got to sit outside all day.

posted on: 06/22/2006 | path: /life

Google thinks you may be paying too much for your Topher!

In other news, I'm the world's 3rd most popular Topher *cough* as measured by Google *cough*. Second only to Topher Grace and topher1kenobe. Rock on, fellow Tophers.

posted on: 06/21/2006 | path: /life

There are some hot pictures of frying bacon up on my newest recipe page: The Bacon Avacado Sushi Roll. Oh man that's good.

posted on: 06/20/2006 | path: /life

Okay, that's a lie. I'm not really an indie game developer. In fact, it's never even been on my radar. Game developers work long hours and get paid rubbish. Not my bag, baby.

But, well, indie game developer...? Now that's something else.

Months ago Ben and I hit on the idea of making a DHTML/Javascript Turn Based Strategy game in our spare time. The genre's constraints are almost perfectly suited for the technology. Full of ambition, we barely got past the realization that we were sucky artists before giving up.

Well, Ben dove back into the problem a week or so ago. Working to implement a Blood Bowl play system, he solved some of the tricky interface issues we'd bumped into. He was also lucky enough to acquire a set of visual assests for Blood Bowl, thus punting on the need for new art.

This coincided with me picking up my Nintendo DS again and getting re-addicted to the TBS genre. So I decided to get in on the fun too. I've put together a pretty good architecture that lets me separate the game logic from the web UI. (The backend is sufficient for testing now, and I've switched to work on the UI).

My original idea was to develop a non-violent turn based strategy game based on political campaigning. You'd recruit volunteers, acquire donations and resources, etc. I could totally see it working with in the framework of the TBS genre. Just as interesting, since it would be played over the web, you could have the results of each campaign affect the legislative composition of a persistent virtual community.

Pretty cool, all in all, and I was all set to get started with it, when Ben reminded me that I already had a great plot for a game...

I did? I did.

Back in November, I wrote a 50,115 novel for National Novel Writing Month. About dinosaurs. And the westward exploration. It was pretty awesome, and totally unfit to be read. But what a great plot for a video game!

And so, here I am. With all sorts of things I should be spending my free time on (more about that later), working on a video game. That will be played through the web. And is about dinosaurs. What a world!

Ben assures me that as long as I prefix it with "indie," I'm good to use the Indie Game Developer title even though I've never released a game. "Topher Cyll: Indie Attorney at Law" anyone?

Anyways that's the story of how I became an indie game developer. At least until reality reasserts itself and reminds me that I have other things to be working on...

Oh, and I still really suck at art.

posted on: 06/20/2006 | path: /life

Portland people doing cool things. Check out Another Sky Press. All books are available online for free, and then sold at cost plus patronage. It's hard to say how realistic this model is. Tipping works in restaurants, but I wonder if the anonymity of the internet would bring out people's worst behavior.

Anyways, regardless, I love the attitude. And I wish I could have some of Jesse Reno's artwork on the cover of something I wrote!

posted on: 06/15/2006 | path: /life

Whoops! I forgot to post in the aftermath of NARMo, but National Album Recording MOnth was a success! We had 20 full albums recorded and over 700 minutes of audio. My own album clocked in at 32 minutes. Because of the copyright issues with the covered songs I won't be posting mp3s, but I will be burning CDs for friends (with cover art), so stay tuned!

posted on: 06/06/2006 | path: /life

With a mere eight days left in NARMo, it's time to pay the piper. Assuming I have no time to record Friday evening, I must record 3 1/3 minutes every single other remaining night in NARMo. Can it be done??

Hell yes.

Tonight I recorded covers of The Rat and Engine. Tomorrow my goal is to record Stegosauror, one of my Tom Waits-alike-songs, and a brief interview with myself about NARMo.

Full speed ahead!

posted on: 05/23/2006 | path: /life

In case you hadn't heard, I've moved! I'm out of the apartment building and into a house with four other folks. Wait till you see this house, it's huge and gorgeous. I'll try to do a virtual tour in the next few days. Ping me if you want the new address.

The house is only a 15 minute walk from where I used to live and is a block away from the street car and from 23rd Ave. The one downside is that this puts me farther away from the train I take to work every day. I guess I'll have to figure that out on Monday.

Actually, I'm not entirely done moving yet. The desk and the organ are still in the old place, and there's a lot of miscellaneous things that need to put into boxes and brought over, but everything I need to live is here.

In other news, I lost my favorite tweed and my cellphone on Cinco de Mayo. What does this mean? Well, I got Ben's old phone hooked up to my line, but this means I've lost all your phone numbers! Isn't that sad? You should call me and chat, so I can put you in my address book.

NARMo is going fantastic in general, but not so good for me. We have 68 people signed up, 205 minutes recorded, and several winners so far. I am still stuck at 4 minutes. That puts me 9 minutes behind. I'm hoping to kick into high gear as soon the move is over. And I'd better too, since I'm going back east for Evan's graduation next weekend.

posted on: 05/12/2006 | path: /life

I just found The First Annual MySpace Stupid Haircut Awards. Good lord! Then of course, there is also the The Second Annual MySpace Stupid Haircut Awards.

More important, though, is this advice from the last ninja master: "Always be able to kill your students.". I might point out that this is not common practice in the liberal arts, thankfully. Also, apparently ninjas really can run along the tops of chain link fences.

Two days till Narmo...

posted on: 04/29/2006 | path: /life

Well, we had our first band practice today. Like all good first band practices, it ended in disaster. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This afternoon, I packed up my acoustic guitar and my bass, and I headed over to Craig and Amanda's place.

(I feel like I should name them.)

The garage was fantastic (acoustics be damned). Craig installed his new drum set and Amanda and I set up our amps. Then we all stood around nervously apologizing for never having played with anyone before. But after a few hours of skimming tabs and listening to mp3s, we started playing. Tenative, and erractic, but I could hear the first, faint sounds of a band being born.

(Oh shit, we're a garage band!)

Which is when the neighbor complained and we had to stop. And now we need to find a new practice space. In retrospect, I'm not really sure why we thought the garage was going to work...

(Damn, the garage was so cool.)

In other news, I have a poster and a postcard made for NARMo. I'm going to print a big run of these tomorrow and start passing them out! I hope I can finish the new website tomorrow too!

posted on: 04/17/2006 | path: /life

I've mentioned it before, but consider this the official announcement of NARMo. National Album Recording Month starts on May 1st. NARMites will record a 31 minute album over the 31 days of May, title it, and then make cover art.

(The NARMo mascott)

We're shameless inspired by National Novel Writing Month, it's true. There are some differences, of course. For example, you could hypothetically finish NARMo in 36 minutes (record yourself in one take for 31 minutes and then make an album cover with crayons). There's no way you could finish Novel Month that quickly if you insisted on typing each of the 50,000 words (of course, copy and paste is a whole 'nother animal). The result seems to be that NARMo feels a little more flexible and lighthearted. We can each make the process as laborious as we choose.

As an absolute beginner, I expect I'll spend a lot of time just trying to make my instruments make noise. Some of the more accomplished musicians are going to be able to dive right in, but because they have higher standards, I suspect the time involved will even out. And there are a lot of ways to do NARMo too. It looks like most NARMites will be recording music, but spoken word, narrative, and comedy are all good too. And if you're recording music, you can write your own songs or do covers. I'm planning on doing both, myself. Not to mention, you can work alone or collaborate. The only rule is that in order to put a track on your album, you must have been involved in any small way in the making. So there's a lot of ways to mix it up.

As of this post we have 14 people signed up so far, and that's just by word of mouth. I'm thinking about making some posters this weekend so we can put them up around Portland or any other cities where we've already got NARMites. It sort of depends on how big we want this to be. For example, a brief mention in the weekly papers could give us a huge boost, but that kind of publicity makes me a little nervous. Another thought might be some strategic posts in music forums.

I added a NARMoBlog to narmo.org yesterday, to try to give the site more of a feeling of life. I'm thinking we'll want some simple forums or something too, though, to give NARMites a way to interact. Right now the site feels very static.

Oooh! And Anna and I started brain storming t-shirt ideas yesterday, so odds are good we'll have one of those soon too!

Anyways, go sign up for NARMo! May is going to be a good month. ;-)

posted on: 04/12/2006 | path: /life

Check out this interview with my Mom! Wonderfully in depth; it's fascinating to hear my Mom talk about the creative process.

The incubation period is often about three months. So, when in October 2002 I attended my annual fall writing retreat, the story spilled out of me onto the page.

And maybe a lesson for everyone:

I would tell them to be realistic about the need for authors to also be marketers. This doesn't mean that there is a one-size-fits-all perfect approach to doing that marketing. Rather, it's a matter of talking to other authors to learn where there successes have come, reading books, websites, and listservs devoted to the topic, and assessing your own areas of comfort and challenge.

posted on: 04/11/2006 | path: /life

McDonalds has started using remote call centers to handle drive through orders.

Can there be any doubt they'll move to touch screen ordering eventually? There's not a terribly compelling reason to have a person involved at all. The service sector, long believed to be immune to robotization and outsourcing, is going to be automated away in the foreseeable future.

Which doesn't have to be a disaster, but will be if we don't help retrain people for new jobs.

posted on: 04/11/2006 | path: /life

The GREs are over (went well!) and it's April. You all know what that means...

It means that on Saturday night, after Allison and I wrapped up our afternoon, celebratory, post-GRE drinking, I went to go see the Billy Nayer Show play one block from my apartment at the Towne Lounge.

(This postcard was given to me by the band.)

In other news, it's exactly one month until National Album Recording Month begins. I've started looking at extra USB soundcards and microphones online. I think I can get the extra inputs I need for pretty cheap. Hopefully my Powerbook can handle the load. I've also started looking for an electric guitar, but no news on that yet.

After our bike ride today, Amanda and Craig and I got to scheming. We've got a plan to turn their garage into a practice space and a recording "studio". We're also forming a band. More on that in the future.

The band will help us each fill up some of our NARMo albums, but I think the plan is bigger than that. Because why shouldn't we have a band? (I think this is going to be a very good summer). We've already started to select some covers. Steak for Chicken, Holland 1945, and Dying on the Cross are strong contenders.

So far, I also have six personal compostions I'd like to record solo and I'm hoping to write more in May. They're so ludicrous that I've made up a new genre to shield them from criticism. I call it Tricycore. The word has two roots, tricycle meaning childish, and core meaning bad.

Anyways, consider this a public service announcement. May is National Album Recording Month. I'll give a holler as soon as the website is up.

PS- I've started a new thing where I'm bolding the key points for better reader comprehension. Also for emphasis.

posted on: 04/04/2006 | path: /life

And they've given him his own store.

(Names like "Christopher" become a problem when you decide to truncate them at five letters.)

posted on: 03/26/2006 | path: /life

...for he shall provide for you. Found this lovely batch in the free stuff pile today.

(Man, who gives away a bucket with little glasses along with their wine?)

posted on: 03/25/2006 | path: /life

I found this strange bag of buttons downstairs in the free stuff pile.

(Email me if you think you know which one is my favorite!)

Today was beautiful, so Amanda and I decided to ride bikes instead of having writing group. It is spring, now. Trust me. Then Preston was in town doing the college tour with his younger brother, so we got food at the Kennedy School. Sounds like he might be interested in Northwest Album Recording Month. Heh, it's gonna be awesome.

posted on: 03/19/2006 | path: /life

This probably won't mean much to many of you, but if you're bored, go check out my Computer Science Bandname Generator.

posted on: 03/19/2006 | path: /life

A holiday about drinking and hating snakes, what could be better?

(My "I Hate Snakes" hoodie.)

posted on: 03/17/2006 | path: /life

My parents will be very pleased to know that I bought new pants today. Amanda provided the much needed moral support to prevent me from running RIGHT BACK OUT OF THE STORE.

(Ewww... hairy knee.)

(Pants!)

posted on: 03/12/2006 | path: /life

Turns out Evan Carroll has a blog. I really love the Drydock pictures.

posted on: 03/12/2006 | path: /life

GREs today went great. I'm taking a break this weekend, then it's time to start studying for the Computer Science GRE. Three weeks and counting...

Ben, Amanda, and I watched the season finale of Battlestar Galactica tonight. Holy shit. I can't wait until I'm a TV screenwriter.

posted on: 03/11/2006 | path: /life

This is pretty awesome.

posted on: 03/08/2006 | path: /life

Somebody gave Richard Dawkins (the famous evolution scientist and writer) a TV show called The Root of All Evil. It's a look the role of religion in modern conflict. I'm almost uncomfortable about how agressive he is, but it's good to hear him unashamedly speaking out.

If you're feeling uncomfortable with the growing fundamentalism in America and the world, it's worth watching.

posted on: 03/05/2006 | path: /life

There are some questions floating around the technical community right now. "Are other countries producing proportionally more scientists and engineers than we are? If so why? Will this affect the American economy in relation to foreign economies?"

These questions have been receiving a lot of media and political attention. I should start out by saying, it's not clear to me that we actually have a problem. As near as I can tell, many foreign individuals that receive US education choose to immigrate, strengthening the American technical community. It seems to me that we're making out like bandits, pulling some of the worlds best brains into our economy.

Of course, this causes other people to worry about competition for jobs within America, but I'm not sure it really works that way. It seems more likely that by vitalizing certain professions with some of the worlds smartest brains, everybody is better off. Maybe I'm niave. It's hard to say.

In his state of the Union, George W. Bush spoke to this question. He declared that we needed to have more students in technical fields in order to better compete in a global economy, and that we would address the problem by putting more funding (where's that gonna come from George?) into basic science and math education for elementary school students.

Excuse me?

I see a couple problems with this statement. First of all, what did George W. study in college? Let's see. Hmmm, History undergrad followed by Business School. Way to bring home the technical bacon, George.

Second of all, who the hell thinks basic science and math education will accomplish anything? "Basic" hardly seems like enough to begin with, but simple math skills don't seem like something that will make us globally competitive. How about teaching creativity and abstract thinking, the kinds of skills that have real impact on the economy and, combined with scientific or technical know how, can create new innovation?

Sorry. I'll stop ranting, and start looking for some answers now. Here are two articles (one two) that try to answer that question. Their answer is simple: "Jobs in science suck." They both argue that no economical rational individual would choose a career in science and that if the pundits are so worried, perhaps they should go make and get some PhDs themselves.

I don't think it's as grim as all that. After all, I'm hoping to go back to graduate school eventually, get this, just for fun. And I should point out that a great number of my peers aren't going into business or law or medicine either. So maybe very few of our career decisions are economically motivated. On the other hand, we're young and dumb still, so it's hard to say.

Anyways, next time someone is whining about the science gap, ask them what they majored in.

PS- check out LebowskiFest. Damn I wish we had one of these in Portland.

posted on: 03/05/2006 | path: /life

Regular readers will know I am only just recovered from the nasty virus sweeping the northwest. What you may not know is that my recovery was aided by a variety of natural remedies. The chief of these being the ancient mysterious Appalachian tradition of "not shaving." This not only bolsters your immune system, it keeps your face warm.

(Damn, is that best I can do in 10 days? That's like a light peach fuzz)

Seeing as I'm now recovered, it's time to get rid of my furry companion. I've had bad experiences with facial hair in the past that made me a little bit beard-shy, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider letting it grow, just to see. But here's the problem, I'm missing a large chunk of beard. Asymmetrically, too, I might add. The left side of my face is just fine, but there is a completely hairless silver dollar-size patch on my right cheek.

(I wonder if Rogain would help?)

So much for growing a beard. Instead, I've had expert artists create a picture of what they think I might look like. And with that, I'm going to go shave.

(Harrison Ford in the Fugitive, I am not)

posted on: 03/05/2006 | path: /life

I finally found some good software to transcode Evan Carroll and my legomation into a nice web accessible format. Watch it or download for video iPod now!

posted on: 03/05/2006 | path: /life

I stumbled across this interview of Gene Simmons of rock band KISS today by NPR's Terry Gross. It starts out kind of funny with quotes like:

Terry Gross: No. Let's get to the studded codpiece.
Gene Simmons: Oh yes.
Terry Gross: Do you have a sense of humor about that?
Gene Simmons: No.
Terry Gross: Does that seem funny to you? Are you --
Gene Simmons: No, it holds in my manhood.
Terry Gross: [laughs] That's right. 

But then Gene begins starts spouting these weird self involved mysogenistic rants and it sort of rapidly goes down hill. I'm not sure what to make of it really. Besides his obvious sexism, I think I was most offended by his implication that people can't be both intellectual and exciting. What a weird interview; it kind of bothered me.

posted on: 03/04/2006 | path: /life

Potlatch-15, the science fiction writers' convention, was a lot of fun. Amanda, Rachel, and I drove up Friday afternoon in Betsy (aka Old Blue). Of course no one had bothered to bring directions, so we puttered around the city aimlessly until Rachel finally got ahold of someone on her cell phone. Turns out the Space Needle makes a fantastic landmark.

(Amanda, Rachel, Katie)

Events hadn't started, so we decided to have a few drinks at the neighboring clown bar. There's a lot of ways a clown bar can go, and I can't decide if 'carny' is the best or the worst. I won't say any more except to point out that I was lucky enough to be looking the other way when a middle aged goth whipped out his junk and slapped it down on the bar.

The con was straightlaced by comparison. We were the youngest folks there by far. It was reassuring in a way. We've got time.

We spent Friday night at an anarchist commune. I picture a lot of things when I think of anarchists and when I think of communes, but this took me by surpise. Rachel's friend Katie lives in a gorgous victorian house, that I swear, absolutely radiated restfulness and positive energy.

The have a "time based economy" where everyone contributes 100 hours of "work" a month. Most people contribute a 50/50 split, doing 50 hours of work around the house and contributing 50 hours of their salary. I pumped Katie for all the info that I could and it seems to be working pretty well. Makes me want to study this more, *eyes light up* and maybe do an audio documentary about it! I bet Portland has a ton of communes.

(A town with signs like this MUST have communes!)

Anyways, the convention itself was interesting. The best part was just steeping in it all. Taking in the lives of all these people who write science fiction because they love it.

(Preston and Steve)

I spent Saturday night at Sarah's house celebrating John's birthday. The usual suspects where there, but I also got to see Dobay and Preston (what a suprise!). I also got to introduce Amanda to everyone and demonstrate my devotion to the scientific method. AND GET THIS: Apparently the potato cannon made it cross country to now resides in Sarah and John's garage!

(Sarah bragged she could totally tell Coke and Diet Coke apart)

(I said "Oh yeah?")

(With the help of Dobay, the International Man of Science, we proved that Sarah cannot in fact tell anything apart from anything else. She got only one ID right and thought diet was regular and vice versa. But some mutant luck, I properly IDed four of the five, even though I still claim they are impossible to tell apart.)

Sunday evening, the tickle in my throat I'd been fighting all week began kicking my ass. Ben has the same virus, and we're progressing in lock step. The worst of it seems to be over, but I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at home. Ugh.

Of course, being sick screwed up my GRE prep plans. I'm in high gear now for the next 9 days. I'm almost done with the Math book. Then it's back to Verbal over the weekend, some Writing practice during the week, the sample computer test software they give you on Thursday, and then Saturday morning it's a go!

After that, it will be all blissfully over until April 1st when I am taking the Computer Science GRE. Rapture! The Computer Science GRE, I should point out, which seems to have only two study books, one which is out of print (rated a measly two Amazon stars anyways) and one which is in print, but has been rated as one Amazon star by every single review, with choice comments like "This book is just wrong."

But whatever, because on April 1st, after my last GRE, I'm going to see the Billy Nayer show at my very own hole in the wall, the Towne Lounge. Hallelujah!

posted on: 03/02/2006 | path: /life

I'm off with Manda and her friend Rachel to a Sci-Fi writers convention up in Seattle. Sarah's throwing a party for John on Saturday, so I'll get to see them too.

posted on: 02/24/2006 | path: /life

Blog, baby, you say I never write you anymore. You say I never notice you at all.

And I try to tell you I've been busy, you know? Getting an article accepted, writing speaking proposals, studying for the GREs, meeting Avi Bryant of Seaside fame...

But then you say you saw me reading another blog, and that's when the yelling starts. I'm ducking dishes, shouting, "Baby! Baby! Calm down. You got it all wrong. I love you, you know that."

We're out of dishes now, but it's cool, 'cause everythings okay again. You're the only blog for me, you know that right, baby?

posted on: 02/23/2006 | path: /life

Sarah and John and I snuck out to White Salmon, WA this weekend to see Davy's new house. Not only does Davy have a very nice house, Davy has a dog named Loki. Loki is a Great Dane. Which is to say he's the size of a pony and still growing.

(A girl and her dog.)

This is disturbing, because he is already the same height as me when standing on his back legs. I discovered this when, in a fit of exuberance, Loki decided to give me a hug. Catching this pony sized beast's forepaws, we stared at each for a moment, me thinking "Please don't eat me" and him thinking inscrutiably doggish thoughts, before his back feet slipped on the hardwood floor and he tumbled to the ground with horrendous crash.

(Loki is large enough to drink out of the sink.)

The only thing more impressive than seeing Loki full extended, is seeing him climb stairs. He seems to believe deep in his heart that it should be possible to bound from ground floor to the landing in one hop. Unwilling to let empirical evidence sway him, the process usually involves Loki hopping, scrabbling, and sliding and then crashing into the wall, the railing, and any unfortunate prior occupants of the stairs.

Also, unlike other dogs who are into things like petting or laying at your feet, Loki's only means of relating to people is by gnawing on them. And while I must admit he is a very gentle chewer, my hoodie has now accumulated several layers of dog slobber and needs a wash. Davy's cat was suprisingly tolerant of the gnawing as well, especially considering that Loki prefers to gnaw on the poor thing's head.

(Loki attempts to chew on Davy.)

posted on: 01/15/2006 | path: /life

It's been a long time, my gentle blogging friends. Alas through no fault of my own my web host WSO bit the big one for a while. But those valiant volunteers have got things started again, and I feel good about this coming stretch of uptime. After all, it's a new year.

Many things happened while you were away...

(We cut down a Christmas tree.)

(And my dog learned how to read.)

I'm only recently back from vacation. First I went home to Maine for Christmas, to see my parents, and to relax. But then all that good rest was surely undone when I spent New Years in Boston with my dear friends. And for three days straight, we partied like it was college again until the dawn's early light.

(We drank a lot of beer.)

(And I became a pirate.)

I'm in the process of writing an article, but it's giving me trouble. I've already written two drafts. The problem is I want it to be exciting, hell, screw exciting, I want it to be outright thrilling. So far, not so much. I'm doing my best to work in the lessons of Kathy Sierra, but nothing's easy.

(Evan and I performed a successful back alley wine opening.)

(And I did not feed the pidgeons.)

I did however manage to give a 25 minute talk to the PDX.rb group this past Tuesday. I spoke about the Multiple Dispatch library for Ruby that I wrote (which plays a big role in the article) and I think it went okay! I'd like to do more of these to work on my speaking.

posted on: 01/05/2006 | path: /life