Posts Tagged ‘Ideas’

Lately it seems as if I’m being reminded of just how scarily accurate gut feelings can be. I feel almost lucky at times, almost tempting me to believe in ESP. From suggesting to someone the sugar is on the right while in another room to feeling as if there a person was off kilter just from the look in their eyes.

Ever since I posted about helping people out I’ve tried following my gut when it comes to people asking or appearing to need assistance. Not too long ago I noticed a man who seemed as if he was living out of a backpack almost by choice rather than necessity. At first in passing I gave him some slices of Hot Mama’s and some extra stuff Pike St Fish Fry gave me. He reminds me of an older wise man with a gnomish white beard, he just seems relaxed and peaceful at all times.

One late night walk with Terra not too long ago I stopped and got to asking him about my gut feeling, just to see if I was right. In a very relaxed conversation Norton and I talk about being in the flow, feeling a general unease building, and about luck and opportunity. Over an hour later, with Terra being a chill puppy, we’ve managed to cover topics like music, politics, human rights, and new forms of society. Talking Žižek, Kierkegaard, and Examined Life; geeking out on thoughts of the Universe and the interconnectedness of everything.

Walking from my stop on Broadway still reading the comments my Gramps had written in his copy of the Denial of Death there was a girl with a dog and some art. One of the pieces she had just happened to catch my eye. So I stopped and turned around, I’m not even sure why, perhaps it reminded me of being a kid and visiting my Dad for weekends at the beach. I asked about what inspired her to make the girl the way she did and commented how the rays of sunlight flew off the board. I asked how much she wanted for it and she commented about how she’s living out of a car so make an offer but in the past they’ve gone for $200. My gut says eh, go for it, my brain says, bit rich for my blood. I tell her I’ll see what I can do and after hitting up the ATM a couple blocks down head back with $200. Telling her about how my Mom does stained glass and has always been a bit of a starving artist I hand over the cash. She began to thank me profusely, tells me how far out and down to Earth I seem. She signs the back and mentions about driving around from place to place and to check her out on MySpace. I end up getting home and am like, wait did I just do that? Have I been taken? I search for her name and sure enough she’s got some other awesome stuff posted online.

After not talking to Norton for a while I stop by again to see how he’s doing and to actually ask about whether or not he’s living out of a backpack by choice. Either I couldn’t bring myself to ask him the first time or I was just too busy thinking about other stuff to ask previously. Turns out that my gut feeling was almost dead on here as well. I’ll spare the details now since I’m still curious about what got him to this point, if he’s settled and actually peaceful and what would he need in life if he’s not. I think when I do speak to him next I’ll give him this $25 Amex gift card I received, seems like the least I can do considering how much enjoyment I’ve received from our conversations.

Meanwhile off the topic of gut feelings I have mixed feelings about non-profit awareness and the general pushiness of those requesting donations in public. I usually pick one a month and donate enough for Microsoft to match, sometimes more. I’ve lost track of the various causes I’ve donated to and I guess this is where I become uncomfortable. I usually stop and see what’s what, then after remembering that I’ve donated prior and even after mentioning that I’ve donated, instead of saying thanks they’ll sometimes say, “well why not make a regular commitment”! Great, but if I donated to every cause I’d like every single time I’m asked  and did so regularly I’d be the one asking for donations before too long. I guess I’d prefer if they’d just state what they’re out for, hand over some info and call it good. If I want to take the time to donate there don’t try and push for regular installments or a minimum amount. Doing otherwise just makes it easier to justify avoiding you altogether.

The more I think about these gut feelings though the more I realize that when I follow them the happier I become and the happier I seem to make the people around me. This surely can’t be a bad thing.

Woke up from a dream last night… with the sensation that I went on a flying trip over Seattle, some lakes, forests, and waterfalls; all the way out into space where I was weightless, chilling out over Earth.

In the process of trying to fall back to sleep I pretty much thought about the following:

1. Design a tattoo in Illustrator and Photoshop that fits the scene in my head/dream.
   • Think about a conversation with Grandma in a hypothetical future situation. “I’m not getting it yet, but as soon as I get into great shape that tattoo is coming.”
   • Use Illustrator and Photoshop design as background for site.
   • Use Illustrator design to create a movie with AfterEffects.
   • Convert movie to Silverlight/Flash for site.
2. Print some photos I’ve taken at Costco.
   • Design and create a DIY wire photo frame which features the photos in between two pieces of glass suspended in a 1x4x9 frame.
   • Share results online with a process video.
3. Join the CrossFit gym across the street so that I can go every Thursday morning in addition to the regular gym visits every Tuesday evening.
   • Buy some weights for home and figure out some more home workout options.
   • Get in great shape.
4. Get tattoo.
5. Looking at ceiling from the bed realizing that I should take a photo of what I’m looking at. Then using Photoshop and Illustrator convert it to a line drawing to then create a design for what I’d like to have built.
   • Thinking of the design. Thinking of how it’d best be accomplished. Creating the mental lines.
   • Use screen capture app to record the process of converting a photo into a design.
   • Take design get it built then do a making of the entire thing.
6. Take long beach vacation.
7. Take a road trip to visit family in California after November 2nd.
   • Return from California very chill and ready for great times ahead.
8. Idea for blog post about the way I think.
9. Need to buy camera gear for Leetspeak’s first show.
   • Need to attend show and hook up audio recorder to monitor output to be able to make a decent quality video.

Trying to go back to sleep now… Thinking… Man I need to find something new to fall asleep to. I’m really starting to pick out individual instrument patterns. Damn, that really is a pattern. I wonder if I could recreate this. I should try and recreate song, record process.

Okay, I need to sleep… I’m laying on a beach listening to the waves and there’s an awesome girl next to me. We go snorkeling in the really clear waters and see some turtles. Chilling on a board, now there’s some dolphins off in the distance. Flash forward to getting out of water after splashing around a bit with the awesome girl. Have sex with awesome girl in awesome villa on the beach. Lay out on beach as the stars come out and fall asleep to the sight of the milky way.

And after all that I eventually fall asleep, I think, at least that’s the point where I forget everything and eventually wake up. Getting ready for work, realize I need to create a list of shit to do. Realize that I should just record every idea I had while trying to fall back to sleep.

Record list.
Post.

I guess since I sold 100% of my previous 20D, Gitzo Explorer, and Acratech setup I’m wondering if I should change things up and do it a bit more differently and intelligently.

The Explorer was a great tripod, and I’m pretty set on getting the new version. It wasn’t quick to set up but it was infinitely versatile. The Acratech was also a great ballhead, I can’t think of any complaints really, at least none that aren’t solved by the new Acratech GP ballhead.

I’m sort of thinking though that this new ballhead should have a pan arm though for video usage on the 7D. Thinking about it now, it’d be awesome if Acratech just added a screw hole to the right side of the quick release plate. That way you could screw in a pan arm. There’d be no question about the ballhead then. For now, it’s not that way so I’m considering options, next in line is a RRS BH-55.

Help me decide Internet! Too many forum discussions to read!

At any rate, the 7D with the EF 24mm f/1.4L II is awesome, I need to get off my ass and update the theme here and create a decent gallery. I wish this was all a lot cheaper it’s such a relaxing and enjoyable endeavor, it sucks that paying for it creates such stress.

Yes, I said it. Look at all the Windows 7 launch day hardware. What do all those all-in-one PC’s with multitouch have in common? Well, looking at the photos quickly it would seem they all have glossy screens. Really!? As if having touch features on your primary screen wasn’t bad enough they had to make it glossy.

Example Dell’s Studio One 19.

While Apple and the Microsoft Surface along with other research has clearly sparked the entire multitouch movement. Right now is not the time for people to be going crazy and buying these PC’s. Apple is at least being smart about it and only adding it where it makes sense, handheld devices, touch pads, the Magic Mouse. You probably won’t ever see Apple add it to an iMac screen.

On the PC at this point I’d probably tell anyone who asked to fore go the expensive multitouch desktop PC’s and simply buy Wacom’s multitouch tablet.

It’s not even really that the features for multitouch aren’t there in software. Windows 7 and Snow Leopard both have awesome support. Right now at least the hardware just doesn’t match reality when it comes to usability.

Multitouch for desktop PC’s really isn’t going to get anywhere till we have real haptic input via a secondary display surface that can replace both the keyboard and mouse. A good start might be Senseg’s stuff. There was another thing I remember seeing but can’t find the URL at the moment.

Imagine just having a surface below your primary screen that’s a secondary display that replaces your keyboard and mimics the feel close enough. The feedback areas could easily change with what’s being displayed on the secondary display. To the right or left of the on screen keyboard could be an area for your entire hand to control and touch multiple pointers, see 10/GUI.

This is the sort of control surface that’ll replace the mouse and keyboard in time. It’s certainly not going to happen over night, but until the technology really gets to this point, multitouch displays in the primary vertical orientation just don’t make sense.

I honestly don’t know what’s with PC manufacturers, they just don’t seem to get what Apple clearly does. Here’s another example from Dell, their new Adamo XPS laptop. From the looks of it, a pretty amazingly cool piece of hardware. I’d love to know just much time and energy was spent on adding the ridiculous heat sensing strip. What real purpose does this serve? Speaking of strips that serve no purpose Dell yet again with their EdgeTouch on the Z600. Engadget has it right, “makes overcompensated CEOs out of us all”. Why the hell does anyone really need a touch sensitive strip on the right side of the laptop screen that’s going to require some crapware that undoubtedly causes more issues than anything else.

Dell isn’t the only guilty party. It’s not like Toshiba, Sony, HP, you name it have decently designed crap that isn’t just a bunch of plastic. Microsoft Hardware has done their fair share of stupidity as well. Compare the new Apple keyboards which are simple and refined to some Microsoft keyboards and you’ll notice a bunch of extra multimedia buttons those F-Lock functions, you name it. Then each new generation they change what’s included as well as the behavior. My original Natural Pro has a complete different set of buttons than my Entertainment 7000. I prefer the Natural keyboards over Logitech and Apple and just about anything else. Microsoft has an *amazingly* awesome sense for ergonomics far above Apple, that’s for sure (I’m looking at you Mighty Mouse nipple). But they’re far from perfect. I don’t really get why it’s so hard for everyone that isn’t Apple to figure out how to make decent hardware.

There’s probably 2 or 3 well designed and well made machines from both HP, Dell, Sony, hell some even like Lenovo laptops. But the bulk of the crap that’s put out by the industry is rehashed plastic crap that has bloat inside and out.

Jonathan Ive’s was right, it’s not about what you add but what you remove. This doesn’t just apply to the design of the products but the entire product line.

Grr. Now I remember my last USB MIDI experience… Last time was with XP in beta, even then it was the same deal. No bloody drivers because XP wasn’t released. Now 7, though its RTM’d isn’t out on the street yet; so no bloody drivers for the just unboxed Axiom Pro 49.

What gets annoying is when you have a phone call earlier in the day where a customer complains about crap not working that used to work or relatively new stuff not working. No drivers, bad drivers, whatever.

I mean come on, it’s not Microsoft’s fault. It’s not like Vista wasn’t in beta for 6 years and 7 for 2+. Hell Microsoft even helps people write their drivers. Still, we get crap drivers way too late which just pisses people off.

I’m not blaming M-Audio here. I’m just frustrated at the statu quo. I’ve not completed my search for updates bits yet so for all I know it’ll be working in 5 minutes. I’m a bit miffed it’s not just a simple plug and play. Or updated drivers off Microsoft Update. My philosophy would be to release early at every point of the process. It’s understandable if the stuff doesn’t work perfectly during the beta. But at least you won’t have customers out in the cold come RTM.

And I do have to say, Vista’s only failure was in its public perception. Yes UAC was overblown, yes they failed to deliver half what they promised at PDC03, but at the same time it was a huge improvement over XP. People will forget that XP was considered crap until SP2 made it what it is. Vista is the same deal. SP2 is amazing most of the time.

Now with Windows 7 people are finally saying it’s what Vista should’ve been, this is rather funny really because even with 7 being as awesome as it is, there’s still a lot left that was still promised and shown at PDC03.

Perhaps Microsoft’s priorities have shifted, for example multitouch wasn’t as huge as it is now. Perhaps Microsoft’s resources haven’t quite been allocated as well as they could be. Or maybe what’s actually being engineered is just a little more complicated than we expected.

I’m still thinking of that amazingly good demo from PDC03 with the millions of photos and albums shown in 3D that was completely fluid, all driven by meta data in a WinFS powered back end. The reality unfortunately is that despite what Microsoft is delivering in 7 and Apple has been delivering in Snow Leopard really doesn’t match up to demos.

Still, 7 is pretty awesome, it’s definitely the best OS Microsoft has yet to release.

You know, it could just be a consequence of trying to move technology so quickly. On both the hardware and software side.

Example, 1080p 56″ LED DLP about 3 years ago was about $3400. Now you could probably find one for $900. LED LCD purchased about two months ago, $3200, at a steep discount no less. Now, $2500, via Amazon.

That’s a pretty fast progression in both price and obsolescence. Maybe everyone just expects too much too quickly .

Maybe Michael Moore has hit on something with Capitalism, I’ve not even seen it yet but I get the feeling we in general have expected exponential growth but have the lack of widespread focus to actually get anything accomplished. And this is due to the current state of Capitalism in the US. It doesn’t seem like everyone is as focused on a singular task as they were when getting to the moon or fighting the Axis powers.

It’s not just technology either, where’s the focus on health, energy, and sustainability? I think Dawkins and Maher might agree that to some extent the lack of focus is exacerbated in part by the lack of reason and the divisiveness of US politics and religion.

But anyway, I just want to make some music damn it .