from alaska with love

Film shoot

2008-10-02T09:36:00.003-08:00

This Saturday is the last day of shooting. So far everything has turned out pretty great - couldn't have imagined these results.

You can see pictures and production details here:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=141951

New film

2008-09-01T00:20:00.003-08:00

I checked my blog and found out I haven't posted in a very long while. Yes, we shot a music video in August. I can't post pictures or footage yet because none of us can, not until everything is edited and released to the general public. In the meantime let me say it was tons of fun. The best part was the dolly moves. I want a dolly! Someone get me one for Christmas.

I'm in pre-production for my next thing, a short film. You can check out more information on our production website.

This weekend (or the next) we'll be holding auditions. In the meantime we're building a set, finding a bar in which to shoot one of the scenes, acquiring the lights and microphones, and etc. Loads of preparation - making a film is not so much about operating a camera. That's the easy part.

Storyboarding

2008-06-24T14:28:00.003-08:00

In August I'll be shooting a music video for Marian Call. Brian Adams, Marian and I have our pre-production meeting every Monday night. Last night was Storyboarding Session I. Here's a short time-lapse video of part of the meeting.

Storyboarding MC's shoot with BA and GF. from Gabriel Florit on Vimeo.

Baby moose

2008-06-16T17:51:00.006-08:00

Saw this yesterday, near downtown Anchorage. That thing better find his mother!

Baby Moose in Anchorage from Gabriel Florit on Vimeo.

first friday

2008-05-04T23:43:00.006-08:00

on friday night i walked around downtown anchorage with some friends. here are some of the pictures i took. wet pavement is such eye candy.

april come she will

2008-04-15T09:46:00.003-08:00

lots happened since the last post.

- i made friends with the mcginleys' wednesday night old timey jam session. i'm a regular now - every wednesday night you can find me playing guitar at the one irish pub in anchorage.

- i might be volunteering for the mark begich campaign - he will be running against ted stevens in d.c.

- i've found myself immersed in the atheism vs. deism debate, especially centered around richard dawkins' "the god delusion" and all the responses it has sparked.

- i almost died two weeks ago - on my 28th birthday, too. i have never come so close to death. i learned my lesson, the hard way: never climb an avalanche chute without an ice pick. i also learned true horror makes you cry. i did.

- i turned 28 two weeks ago.

- i met anna. see picture below.

New Red House Painters album

2008-02-12T10:26:00.001-09:00

Coming out March something... Listen to one of the songs here.

Vote!

2008-02-04T17:18:00.000-09:00

Tomorrow Tuesday (if you live in the US) you must go vote. It's your inalienable right as a citizen AND also your duty. So vote.

And whoever you vote for, vote Barack Obama!

RHS came and went

2007-11-26T10:16:00.000-09:00

True... The Rocky Horror Show came and went. It was fun fun fun. We had 9 shows, half of which were sold-out. Standing ovations for the last three!

I want to do more theater.

Here's yours truly, by Jaime Lang:

My church is on the NY Times!

2007-11-23T11:49:00.000-09:00

Here's an article on Changepoint in The New York Times. That's my church! Word!

In Rainbows

2007-11-21T10:39:00.000-09:00

You should go get Radiohead's latest right now. It's free. It's also really, really good.

November news

2007-11-15T09:48:00.000-09:00

- Tonight is the Rocky Horror Show preview! I know the premiere is the real thing (tomorrow night), but tonight we're having a real audience for the first time. This is a big thing for me. My last stage experience was in Lima, Peru, late nineties, as Pharaoh. I guess not much has changed - I'm still wearing lots of makeup.

- Alyeska opens this Saturday! They already have 84 inches at the top, which is the only part of the mountain they're opening. I cannot wait.

- I'm two steps closer to being an Alaskan - my truck has Alaskan plates, and I just got studded tires on. Now I only need a dog on the passenger side.

Last day of October news

2007-10-31T13:26:00.000-08:00

- Saturday was fun fun fun: 1) I'm no longer a Halloween virgin, and 2) I won Best Costume! (pictures coming)

- It's not cold enough! Arg! Snow is steadily covering the mountains, but it turns to rain at Anchorage. Went cross country skiing on Sunday - a 15-minute drive gets me to Glen Alps, which is high enough to get inches of snow every day. Most excellent conditions, including an older guy skijoring with - wait for it - two goats! Only in Alaska.

- The Rocky Horror Show is going well. We open in two weeks.

- Viewing for the All Hallows Fest is officially open.

snow

2007-10-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

We've had almost an inch in the last two days. It has begun! J (a coworker) says the farmer's almanac predicts a higher than average snowfall this winter. If it's in the almanac it must be true.

The RHS rehearsals are going great. I'm really enjoying all the dancing and singing that goes on in a musical. Wearing leather and corsets makes it even more fun.

i'm in a musical!

2007-10-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's The Rocky Horror Show. I'm one of the dancers/singers. It runs during Thanksgiving (odd), November 19-26th, at Out North here in Anchorage.

I haven't had this much fun in years, possibly decades.

It's snowing in Anchorage. It seems winter is almost here: two days ago the low was in the teens, and now it's back up to lower thirties. How quickly one gets used to cold weather: I walked out the door this morning and could not believe it was snowing. "Surely it's not below 32? I'm only wearing a shirt", said Gabe.

i'm in a play!

2007-10-09T16:58:00.001-08:00

guess which one:

(alphabetical order)

A Streetcar Named Desire
Hair
The Glass Menagerie
The Rocky Horror Show
West Side Story

i have been chosen

2007-10-05T16:14:00.000-08:00

in my flickr inbox (sent september 23, but i don't check flickr email too often):

Hi Gabriel,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the third edition of our Schmap Anchorage Guide, to be published later this month.

Isn't that cool? Here's the aforementioned photo.

one year / snow

2007-10-01T00:17:00.000-08:00

i've been in alaska for exactly one year now.

joy! weather forecast calls for lower 20s on wednesday night. if it keeps raining (like it has for the last week) that means snow. snow!

transformers

2007-09-28T23:03:00.000-08:00

might just be the most amazing thing i've ever seen at the theaters. i just came back from the opening night at the beartooth.

i want a muscle car!

nothing to see here, move along

2007-09-27T23:37:00.000-08:00

- termination dust is on the Chugach for good. the mountains are 1/3 covered in snow. every day the line comes down a little bit more. i cannot wait for snow.

- i'm becoming a workaholic: come in to work at around 9am, leave after 8pm...

- who would have known? NUMB3RS is fun. rob morrow is a great actor. he has that 'working class' thing going on. and he did star in Northern Exposure, the 90's series about a lower-48 doctor moving to an alaskan village. i intend to watch that soon.

- yesterday i missed work for the first time since getting a real job (september 2005). guess i should have taken that flu shot after all. i was kept in bed all day, til 7pm or so.

- my dad's in lima, my mom in lochcarron, my brother in manchester, and i'm in anchorage! how strange.

I'm back! sort of

2007-09-22T10:53:00.000-08:00

Plans for today: get new climbing shoes at AMH (my leather ones are all stretched out), watch the Barcelona v Sevilla soccer game at the Peanut Farm at noon, go rock-climbing with Clare and Luke at the rock gym at 2pm (can't climb outside, it's been raining all week), do laundry, go to Rachel's housewarming party at 7pm, and finish the evening with the last showing of Knocked Up at the Bear Tooth.

The best thing on the net right now. Period.

2007-06-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

Don't take my word for it. See for yourself. Here's the original. Here's the priceless Kill Bill remix. A thing of beauty.

Spring skiing

2007-05-15T14:51:00.000-08:00

About three weeks ago Yin (a coworker) convinced me to try backcountry skiing. We went to Turnagain Pass, about 60 miles south of Anchorage, in the Kenai Peninsula. The usual approach to backcountry skiing is to attach a pair of "skins" to the skis. These surfaces prevent backwards movement. Coupled with special bindings, which release the heel, you can effortlessly slide up the mountain. I don't have skins or AT bindings. They're spendy. I chose the harder route instead: borrowing snowshoes and hiking up, skis and boots dangling from my backpack. Neither of us had avalanche beacons/shovels, another essential of backcountry ski trips. Needless to say, we stayed clear of any potential avalanche chutes.

Near the summit I let Yin take the lead by some distance - I didn't want him to take me down in case he slid, meaning I didn't know exactly how much longer before we reached the summit. And then there it was, I was now walking on the ridge of the peak. This was probably one of the highlights of my life so far. Walking on the summit spine is an unbelievably scary feeling. There's nothing I could do at this point except concentrate on every single move. A misstep and I would have slid 2500 feet, probably encouraging avalanches along the way.

Even though the peak is probably not more than 2500/3000 feet one still feels on top of the world. This only encouraged me to take up mountaineering. I cannot wait till next winter.

This is as far as we got. Well, I actually went a little bit further, but not up that second summit. As inviting as it looks, the trail to the top sits on overhanging cornices. That's basically asking for it.

Oh, and did I mention the skiing down part? True, you do climb all day for about 7 minutes of ski time, but there's just no words that describe skiing down a naked mountain.

I love Alaska.

The Road

2007-04-20T15:20:00.000-08:00

About two weeks ago I saw Brick. What a great film. Such a clever story: private eye film noir clothed in a modern SanFran highschool setting. Witty dialogue, delightful camerawork... a joy if you're a fan of the noir (I am). During the commentary track the director explained how the movie came about: He saw the Coen Brothers' Miller's Crossing, started reading Dashiell Hammett novels (the guy that invented pulp/noir, back in the 30's), graduated from film school in '96, had a script twelve months later, and then spent SIX years getting the money to make Brick.

So I went to Barnes & Noble, bought The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon, and read them in about 5 days. I'm in love with noir! I can't help it.

...

Last night I finished The Road, this year's Pulitzer Prize winner. I took 10 minutes to read the last page, letter by letter, delaying the end. And then another 10 minutes to yell at the author for not telling us more. And then I had to turn on NPR.

The Chugach Range

2007-04-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

I took this about 3 weeks ago, when the weather was still below freezing. Not anymore. Anchorage is, right now, one big, brown, wet puddle. All those nice flat flakes are turning to mush.

(mandatory - click for larger size)

Sunset over Hillside

2007-03-30T15:09:00.000-08:00

I took this one driving back from the Flattop area (previous picture). Coming down this hill was a little bit scary. I don't have studded tires, and the melted snow was icing up quickly.

In one week...

2007-03-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

...I'll be 3 years from turning 30. Oh the tragedy. To distract me from that sad fact, here's more photos of Alaska.

The Chugach Range in Anchorage. This particular spot is about 15 min. from home, going southeast.

The rest of these pictures were taken at Rachel's housesitting house. I won't take credit for the beautiful lighting. That was the sun.

Dogs and etc.

2007-03-25T20:46:00.000-08:00

My final Iditarod-related post.

Dog handler fitting booties.

This lady seemed to be in charge of feeding and cleaning up. When I took the picture there was a huge pile of straw and dog poop next to the pickup.

More dogs. They're probably itching to pull.

Clare and someone else.

Iditarod 2007

2007-03-12T20:55:00.000-08:00

I don't know her. She was watching the dog sled race.

Iditarod 2007

2007-03-04T21:15:00.000-09:00

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, or "Iditarod", is Anchorage's most popular winter event. Mushers and dogs cover over 1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome, in temperatures ranging from a lukewarm 30F to windchill -100F. The ceremonial start takes place in Anchorage, sometime during March, and the real start happens the next day in Willow, an hour north of here. Yesterday was the ceremonial start. I spent about 3 hours walking up and down 4th Avenue, freezing my toes in the 2F weather and wishing I was wearing real fur (apparently PETA doesn't have a presence up here, at least according to the fashionable furry clothes being worn by mushers and spectators alike - actually, I did see a PETA bumper sticker on an Alaska truck: "People Eating Tasty Animals"). Highlights of the day: 1) feeling like I was in a real city, thanks to the large crowd of tourists (downtown is never that busy), 2) free hot cocoa at the Anchorage Tourism Bureau log cabin, 3) hearing and seeing all the lower 48ers and feeling like an Alaskan.

Dog handler waiting for his team's turn.

Dogs are brought to the start line in wooden dog cages mounted on trucks.

More to come.

not man enough for this one

2007-02-16T17:44:00.000-09:00

Christmas Chute, yesterday:

I can ski almost all the trails at Alyeska, the local ski resort. But not Christmas Chute. I haven't tried it, and probably won't for a while. It's narrow and steep. I can handle narrow and gentle, or steep and wide. But not narrow and steep.

only in alaska

2007-02-16T15:36:00.000-09:00

a coworker sent this to all staff an hour ago:

"Moose patrolling the parking lot - Be careful when you exit either of the buildings. A moose has been hovering close to doorways and windows."

don't kill me

2007-02-15T12:31:00.001-09:00

Today (I'm currently working as a contractor for an Alaskan Governmental office):

worker - "What does that say, on your sweater... oh, Espana?"
me - "Yep. That's where I'm from, actually."
worker - "Oh, really? Cool. Is that where your slight accent comes from?"
me - "Yep."
worker - "Ah, we were wondering, maybe middle east, but Espana makes sense."

Now, don't get me wrong, worker is a very nice lady, they're all very kind here. But as I sit at my desk, it just feels strange to be confused with a middle eastern person. Not in a good/bad way, just strange. Why is that? Why should I care if people think I'm from this country or that other country? It shouldn't matter, right? But it does.

Deep down we are all racist.

My time here is almost over

2007-01-08T00:34:00.000-09:00

In a few hours I fly back to Anchorage. It's been snowing on and off for the last week, but also getting much colder: tomorrow night the forecast calls for temperatures down to -25 F, or -32 Celsius! Man. That's cold. I'm excited to run in that. Haven't run in anything colder than -10 F.

I should be in bed

2007-01-05T04:24:00.000-09:00

but the temptation was too strong.

(both taken at Arlo and Heidi's, in Sioux Center, Iowa)

A tad too late...

2007-01-02T23:18:00.000-09:00

but I didn't have any Christmas ornaments at my place back in Alaska. Arlo and Heidi do, and I'm here now, so there.

I didn't want to decorate my apartment. It would have reminded me of not being home.

Happy 2007

2007-01-01T19:26:00.000-09:00

In 2006 I didn't expect to:

- quit my job
- move to Alaska
- not run the NYC marathon after the Lake Placid half-marathon
- find an awesome church

In 2007, I expect to:

- not find myself working for a company that goes bankrupt
- run the Anchorage Mayor's Anchorage
- ski the 50K Tour of Anchorage
- climb a few local peaks in preparation for Denali (Mt. McKinley for those of you living in the lower 48)
- go home, at least for Christmas. Spending the holidays elsewhere kinda sucks. No apologies for the vernacular.

Sioux Center from the once-upon-a-time-cool-place-to-be farmhouse driveway.

The first 2007 Iowa moon, taken just after sunset.

8 hours later.

Sidenote: 2007 is NOT a prime. What a disappointment. I mean, it looked sort of promising.

Let us rejoice and sing gladly

2006-12-26T16:32:00.000-09:00

for I have discovered Anchorage Public Radio! KSKA, on 91.10 FM. Why I couldn't find this station before is a mystery. I guess this means no more Christian radio. Oh no, what a tragedy.

Snow! More snow!

2006-12-24T03:11:00.000-09:00

(Update: 10.6 inches total snowfall for yesterday, 33 at Alyeska ski resort). We've had 9 inches in the last 10 hours. It's still snowing. This week every day began the same: walking to my truck through ankle-deep snow, brushing it off, driving to work, coming back to a clean snow-plowed parking lot. Next morning, more ankle-deep snow.

I don't have any pictures of the beautiful white storm enveloping Anchorage. In the meantime, here's some I took about two months ago. Some of my coworkers have their own planes (Anchorage has the highest plane-per-capita index in North America), and they invited me along for a Saturday morning ride to Homer (about 3 hours roundtrip).

This is the Homer Airport. Our two Cessnas are the closest to the camera. My ride was the blue one (I actually got to fly it for a while!)

Beautiful ocean-side properties off the Homer Spit.

This is on our way back to Anchorage. We hugged the edge of that cliff all the way back to Anchorage. Eventually we were flying so low that those houses were above us.

Brian's Cessna, 2 minutes before overtaking him.

One of the many Alaskan ranges. It's hard to remember the names of all these peaks.

Some Alaskan peak. I shot this about 20 minutes before landing back in Anchorage.

Oh. Merry Christmas everyone.

Winter Solstice

2006-12-22T11:38:00.000-09:00

Yesterday was the longest night of winter: 5h 28m in Anchorage. However, word on the street is that our nights are LONGER than, say, Seattle's. How so, you ask, if Alaska is much closer to the North Pole? Snow. We have lots of snow. Once snow arrives it doesn't leave until May, making everything very white. Couple that with low snow cloud cover often during the week, and nights are so bright you can almost read by - it's not moonlight, hmmm - let's call it snowlight. Example: this is Hillside at 11:33pm on Tuesday night.

(Hillside is one of many places to go crosscountry skiing in Anchorage. This particular spot is my favorite, being 6 minutes from home. We had a lot of snow that day, about 7 inches. The groomer did a fabulous job, and I almost cried when I saw that perfect corduroy and me with no skis. I know, I know, I could have gone back home, get dressed, bring my lights - but I had to work the next day. A pitiful excuse.)

I'm dreaming of a white christmas (update)...

2006-12-21T02:25:00.000-09:00

Update: It's still snowing. 2.5 more inches overnight. We got 16.5 inches of snow in the last 60 hours.

I absolutely love it. There are few things as fun as walking to your car and seeing one's ankles disappear in a pristine mantle of white fluffy powder.

Taken this morning before work. View from top of the staircase that leads to my basement apartment.

Anchorage's happy-o-meter climbs to dramatic heights with every snowfall. I'm learning that, just like green Iowa skies and tornadoes, pink Anchorage skies mean snow, lots of it.

Winter Wonderland

2006-12-19T13:35:00.000-09:00

Yep, the last post happened almost 3 months ago.

I will spare you trite sentimental observations about my NY-AK trip. Suffice it to say that it was most enjoyable.

I love Alaska. No, even better. I'm in love with Alaska.

Saturday, Sept. 30th - Welcome To Alaska!

2006-12-19T10:33:00.000-09:00

This is a sad post.

I awoke to snow. Didn't expect it at all, since it was rather warm. In hindsight, this is the most dangerous snow: slick as snot. ABS won't help me if I get into an accident.

Welcome To Alaska! Border crossing was uneventful. Did I mention visibility = zero?

And then it happened. 25 miles into Alaska. The camper trailer ahead of me stopped rather suddenly, and I didn't have enough time to slow down. I plowed into him at about 35 mph. I had about 4 seconds to mutter "no no no no no no no" but it didn't matter. Trying to slow down on this snow is just impossible. Just before hitting the trailer I swerved to the right, hoping to avoid the hit. Then I saw the 20-foot drop. No, I'd rather hit the trailer than end upside down in the ditch. I reluctantly swerved back to the left. Crash. Belle & Sebastian kept singing when I finally stopped moving. Why didn't the airbag deploy? Got out, saw Barry (owner of the camper trailer) (he turned out to be a really nice guy. Stayed at his place that night. Alaskans are friendly people) walking towards me. "What happened?!" I ask, confused and angry. You're not supposed to slow down on these conditions. Never mind, the insurance companies will sort it out. Within 3 minutes we had created our own Alaskan roadblock. 2 minutes later a trooper shows up. He was on his way to another accident that had happened about a mile past us, near the border side. That one turned out to be worse, a flipped SUV in the ditch. 3 minutes pass and a tow truck shows up. What luck! The toothless guy was on his way to that accident, but agrees to tow my truck and trailer back to Anchorage when he's done. The ignition wasn't damaged, so I was able to straighten the truck out nearer to the shoulder. Collected the scattered pieces in one neat pile (with the help of another toothless VW bus owner), sighed heavily, and got in Barry's truck.

All's well that ends well, I guess.

Friday, Sept. 29

2006-12-02T18:47:00.000-09:00

Didn't write anything down today. I'm pressed for time. Need to get to Anchorage by Saturday. Doesn't look very easy at the moment. I'm still in B.C., and Yukon is huge! Oh well.

This is the view from my truck's windshield. No wonder it felt like I was on a boat. The constant wind felt threatening at times.

Taken simply because it looked so... unnatural.

My first moose sighting. I hear they're quite commonplace in Anchorage. Let's hope none of them venture on the road. A 1000lb animal would leave a nice dent.

Yukon! Finally!

Sorry if this update is a little bit grey folks, but the weather is to blame. Snowclouds are rolling in.

Thursday, Sept. 28

2006-11-13T20:18:00.000-09:00

7:03am. Prince George, BC. The Toyota dealership in Abbotsford forgot to reset the Oil Change light after they serviced my truck. Arg. Today I go past 4000 miles on the trip. Ended up choosing Cassiar Highway, the more scenic route. Bears here I come.

BC rest area. More like Picnic Site Of The Year. I hope people living here are aware of the beauty that surrounds them. I mean, it's ridiculous!

More BC.

This was another beautiful, quaint BC town. Everything looked Swiss. Behind those mountains there's a ski resort.

Some people have it all. Like the owner of this house.

More BC.

Not as lush a rest area as the previous one, but still engaging.

The Cassiar Highway begins here.

4:38pm. My first bear sighting! A small (300lb) one, strolling on the right shoulder.

5:44pm. First wooden bridge.

6:29pm. Saw a large black wolf standing under a tree in the rain. He was big. Very big.

6:35pm. Second wooden bridge.

8:10pm. Bell II lodge for supper. Met Elena, a cute, black hair, nosering German waitress. She's visited Barcelona 4 times this past year, but thinks Catalans are strange people. I guess she's right.

The lodge specializes in heli-skiing. A helicopter takes you to the top of a mountain, drops you off, and you ski down pristine powder to a rendezvous point. And you do it all again. Well, at least until sundown. Very cool, and very expensive: $600-$900 for one day.

11:22pm. Iskut - Red Goat Lodge. Truck-camping again, as per usual. This time I chose a creepy campground next to a huge lake. The waves are 15 ft from my Tacoma and the wind is howling bitterly. Quite chilly, too. Population of Iskut: 283.

Oh man. The wind is rocking my truck like a crib.

Wednesday, Sept. 27

2006-11-10T19:23:00.000-09:00

2:45pm. Wednesday - Abbotsford, BC. Hopefully I can make it to Prince George today. Still debating between Cassiar Highway or the Dawson Creek way. The first is more scenic, bears + moose, gravel, no centerline, single lane. The second is more popular, more frequented, paved, more rest areas. Hmmm.

3:40pm. Hope, BC. Gas is expeeensive! $0.939 (canadian dollars) for Premium.
A gravel pullout a few miles north of Hope on Highway 1.

(remember to click on these for the full effect)
A couple of hours later. Still Highway 1. British Columbia is stunningly beautiful. My favourite state/province/territory of the trip so far.

Can't remember the name of the town. About 3/4 hours north of Hope.

Still gorgeous.

A quick visit to the rest area restroom and I'm off again. This picnic table sat next to an informative sign lamenting some sort of pine-killer beetle. Red beetle, perhaps? Anyways, the destruction is monumental. Supposedly it'll take a couple hundred years before the trees grow healthy and strong again.

Tuesday - Wednesday, Sept. 26-27

2006-11-04T20:59:00.000-09:00

Margaret, Scott and I were on our way back from... gosh, something. And then this! A cop stops traffic, then more cops show up, and then a peloton goes past us (albeit not too fast). Looks like a ride-for-a-noble-cause event. Good thing I had my camera with me: I jumped out of the truck and started snapping away like a paparazzo!

Beautiful Mt. Baker.

Beautiful Sara Prins.

Beautif... ahm, no. This Haunted House is on Margaret's property, and it gave Scott and I serious jitters on Wednesday night. The fact that we tried to go in well after sundown didn't help. Using a strobelight as a lighting device didn't either. Oh no.

Staircase that leads to Margaret's room. That place is also haunted. I know this for a fact.

Scott and Margaret looking Very Cute Together. He picks her up at school every day! What a guy!

O, I almost forgot. Of course you can use my camera if you marry me, Sara! That whole what's mine is yours thing will certainly apply. Let's think about the pluses and minuses here: I get Canadian citizenship, which means I can work in Canada. You get Spanish citizenship, which means you can work in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. And since you now have Spanish citizenship you'll also find it rather easy to get a work visa in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay or Venezuela. So you see you have nothing to lose.

Monday, September 25th

2006-11-03T13:21:00.000-09:00

8:01am. Moses Lake, Washington. Crop names are written on the fences between the interstate and service roads. Neat. Peppermint, potatoes, wheat, carrots, peas.

Girls on Film - Duran Duran?

8:53am. CraHorse ViewPoint, WA. Met 2 snowboarders from Utica, NY on their way to Bellingham, WA for the winter. Sol and Ken. Sol HAD to be on pot.

Lullaby - The Cure

Some impressive views from this outlook point. This road below is an old trail used by the pioneers. The trail ran parallel to the canyon. This was the only way east/west.

You guys better be clicking on these panoramics. It takes me a long time to assemble the final version from the 6 or 7 original shots.

11:20am. Everett, WA. Tons of smog near the Seattle area. 18.46mpg.

~ 1pm. Abbotsford, Canada! Get to hang out with Scoot and Margo and (hopefully) Sara (my future wife? stay tuned for more) for the next 2/3 days.

Sunday, September 24th

2006-11-01T15:34:00.000-09:00

9:08am. Hardin, Montana. So I didn't make it far enough yesterday.

This is a very, very long road trip.

The Rockies, maybe? Anyways, glad to see mountains again.

2:22pm. Crossing the continental divide at 6393 feet. Pulled over at a scenic outlook rest area. Was greeted by a VW bus full of french-speaking people and a keg (!) of Heineken. That rock seemed to protrude ever so interestingly, but it was only after one or two shots that I realized A GUY WAS GOING UP IT! omigosh.

2:32pm. Butte, Montana. 17.62mpg, $91 is $2.79/gallon. I kept waiting for the dog to fall off. He couldn't sit still, going from side to side. He was making me nervous.

Ordinary World - Duran Duran.

7:36pm. Missoula, Montana. There are only country radio stations in West Montana. I'm not kidding.

8th of November - Big & Rich (radio) (made me cry)

10:33pm. Spokane, Washington. 18.99mpg, 92 is $3.11/gallon. Nearly had an accident by turning to incoming traffic on a one-way road. Stupid.

6:34am. Sprague, Washington. Took this shot while having breakfast at a cozy roadside inn, Ristorante Toyota Il Gabino. Had tasty eggs and toast with h... NOT. Just water and stale bread.

Morning Edition - National Public Radio

Saturday, September 23rd

2006-10-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

~9:30am. Moderately early start today. Let's see how far I get.

~9:45am. Couldn't resist taking a picture of these cows. I'm can almost hear the soundtrack for Open Range.

1:45pm. Mitchell, SD. $2.51/gallon for 92. 18.27mpg.
Takin' Care of Business - BTO (radio)

6:38pm. Oacoma Outlook, SD. Beautiful views from a supposedly famous Lewis & Clark trail spot. Stopped here for an hour.

Wish I'd brought a tripod along for these shots.

This is the poisonous snakes path. Didn't see any.

"The Chamberlain-Oacoma Bridge, completed in September 1925, was built and fabricated by the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Works of Leavenworth, Kansas. At the time State Bridge Engineer Kirkham estimated the cost of the Chamberlain Bridge to be $303,623." source

6:50pm. Entering the West South Dakota mountain range. My spirits are instantly lifted up. I guess I wasn't meant for the prairie.
A Prairie Home Companion (radio).

8:30pm. Wall, SD. 15.89mpg, ouch! 92 is $2.71/gallon. Boy, the Badlands are pretty cold at night.
Shangri-La - Mark Knopfler

10:50pm. Spearfish, SD. 16.9mpg.
Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground

11:17pm. Bell Fourche, SD - A "shortcut" (Highway 212) turns out to be worse than any gravel I'd seen during my years in Iowa. Potholes, mud, one-lane with a cliff for a shoulder - and now there's 5 trailers ahead of me and we're not moving. There's a reason why the Interstate is the preferred route for most drivers. Sigh.

6:22am. Sunday, somewhere in Montana. 18.47mpg, 91 is $2.80/gallon. Highway 212 turned out to be quite an adventure. Besides being mountainous (and thus slow) I saw an average of one deer every 7 seconds, and one big male deer with antlers every minute. All of them on the shoulder/road every time. I almost killed one, but instead shaved his tail. And a rabbit decided to test the pattern on my tires, only to end up adding a thud to the otherwise silent night. And I saw a 4/5 ft wingspan bird (eagle?).

The reward for this mad Montana road, in what has to be the most remote place in the US: an intense starry night, complete with aurora.

Thursday-Friday, September 21-22

2006-10-28T13:52:00.000-08:00

2 days is just not enough. Especially after one whole year. Good thing Sarah gets married this Christmas, it'll be a strong excuse to see all of the Iowa peeps again.

Trivia Question Of The Day: What (or who) was the center of attention during my Iowa visit?

Wednesday, September 20th

2006-10-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

11:08am. And it shall come to pass, that ye shall receive a sign, a sign unto ye shall be given, by which ye shall discern whether ye have come upon the promised prairie-land: It stinks like shit pig manure in Iowa.

12:35pm. 89 is cheaper than 87? $2.25/gallon, 18.02mpg.
April Skies - The Jesus And Mary Chain

~ 8 o'clock. Sioux Center! Hurrah. Get to hang out with Arlo and Heidi and Taede for the next 2 days.

Tuesday, September 19th

2006-10-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

11:00am. I need an angle grinder. Humph. Well, let's see if the border guys really need to get in.

1:15pm. On the road again after a nap.
John Wesley Harding - Bob Dylan

1:22pm. I've been stuck here for 8 minutes now.

5:28pm. Port Huron, MI: made it through fine! Gas is $2.19/gallon. Unbelievable. Had to go in to the gas station and ask the attendant, such was my unbelief. Let's see how far I get tonight. 17.56 miles/gallon.

10:08pm. Watervliet, MI - 107 miles to Chicago. My right knee burns! It burns us!
When the Doves Cry - Prince
When the Doves Cry - Prince
When the Doves Cry - Prince
When the Doves Cry - Prince

11:20pm. Somewhere in Indiana. Gas, $2.33/gallon. 17.82mpg. Oh wait, it's actually 10:20pm! Nice. That's why I'm moving to AK. It's always earlier to the west. You can get more done.
I never knew my right knee could hurt in such strange and wonderful ways. I hope I'm not causing irreversible damage. A high price to pay, driving to AK cruise control-less.
With God On Our Side - Bob Dylan

12:54pm. Some rest area in Illinois. Safely tucked in between about 30 semis, I'm going to bed.
Sunday Morning - The Velvet Underground

8:11am, Wednesday. 7hrs of sleep should be enough to get me to Iowa. It got down to 37 this past night. Good thing I brought my winter sleeping bag along - and put it in the locked U-Haul. I think I've got a cold.
Rocky Mountain High - John Denver

Monday, September 18th

2006-10-27T09:38:00.000-08:00

Monday 18th, start at 7:15 pm. Put gas in, $2.75/gal. So far the truck has given me 20.8 miles/gallon. Let's hope this improves. It won't. Thought of the Gas-Stop: I hope I didn't load up the truck too much. Where, oh where did all my stuff come from.
Coldplay - Don't Panic

8:53pm. Iruquois Service Area.
Gangsters & Pimps

10:15pm. Some Service Area.
Call to Ctuldhu - Metallica

11:15pm. Junius Ponds Service Area
Spectral Mornings - Steve Hackett

12:22pm. Ontario Service Area. 18.53 miles/gallon, @2.84 $/gallon.
Thought Of The Gas Stop: My numb right foot misses cruise control.
Everything Changes - Staind.

2:30am. Hamilton, Ontario. Woke Reuben up. Felt bad about that. Then he helped me parallel park my truck + trailer. That tooks us about 30 minutes. Wouldn't have done it without him. Hard thing, parallel parking a trailer+pickup.

10:15am. Hamilton, Ontario. Had a very brief (but good) night's sleep at Reuben and Heidi's. Did notice a "How To Eat Healthily For Pregnant Women" library book on their sofa. I wonder about that. Today's immediate goal is to find a Home Depot on the way to Sarnia, so I can figure out how to break open the Extra-Tough padlock I put on my trailer door. The lock's key is on the dinner table back in NY.

Saturday, September 16th

2006-10-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

My plan was to leave today. I guess that ain't happening. I can't believe how long it takes one to pack. When I moved here from Sioux Center I only needed a minivan for all my belongings. Upgrade to a U-Haul in one year? No good.

3am: still the whole trailer to fill, and I'm 2 days late.

Some random flower from my garden. The nearby birdbath never received any visitors, I'm afraid.

I should have spent more time sitting outside. I'll miss that house.

And just in case you're curious, yes, I did preserve the 60% front/40% back ratio when loading the U-Haul. I kept a list of everything that went in there, plus respective weights.
Now why is it taking me so long to pack...

One last picture of the house before I get on the road...

and this took me 4 days.

5561 miles is a long way.

2006-10-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

Although I've been in Alaska for almost 4 weeks now, let's pretend I am leaving tonight.

Let's pretend.

Warning: about 200 pictures coming your way.

Saratoga Springs Congress Park

2006-09-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures I took during lunch. The park is 3 minutes from work.

I've had enough.

2006-09-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

I am the law. From now on, if you live on the West Coast, you shall obey me.

First. Watch "The Cursed Sleep".

Second. Watch "The Same Love That Made Me Laugh" (a Bill Withers cover).

Third. Choose which of these Bonnie Prince Billy concerts to attend.

Fri Nov 3 Portland OR Mission Theater
Sat Nov 4 Portland OR Mission Theater
Sun Nov 5 Portland OR Mission Theater
Mon Nov 6 Seattle WA Tractor Tavern
Tue Nov 7 Seattle WA Tractor Tavern
Thu Nov 9 Vancouver BC Canada St. James Hall
Fri Nov 10 Vancouver BC Canada St. James Hall
Sat Nov 11 Vancouver BC Canada St. James Hall

Itinerary

2006-09-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Click for full size.

If all goes well, here's the plan:

Sept. 16: Ballston Spa, NY -> Toronto, Canada (visit peeps)
17: sleep somewhere in Illinois
18: Minneapolis, MN (visit peeps)
19-21: Sioux Center, IA (visit peeps)
22: sleep somewhere in Montana
23-26: Abbotsford/Surrey/Vancouver (visit peeps)
27: sleep somewhere in British Columbia
28: sleep somewhere in Yukon
29: after 5561 miles, home sweet home, Anchorage!

Making that map thing took too long. I'm off to watch Battlestar Galactica. Mmmm Grace Park...

You cain't always git whatchoo woohnt.

2006-09-01T09:42:00.000-08:00

I really wanted this:

But there's no way I could come up with a good excuse for such an expensive vehicle. So instead I'll get this:

The cheapest pickup truck I could find. My van still lives, but I don't trust it for a 5,500 mile trip. With the truck I can rent a U-Haul trailer and move all my stuff to Anchorage, Alaska, where I'll be working as a programmer. Yep, exciting eh? This is the city's skyline.

Liar liar pants on fire.

2006-08-31T16:53:00.000-08:00

One of these is not true. A falsehood. A lie! Guess.

- I got a new job today.
- I'm moving to Alaska in 3 weeks.
- I'm buying an SUV in 2 weeks.
- I quit my job today.
- I'm buying a truck in 2 weeks.

Tricky, huh? I bet you'll never guess.

LBA3?

2006-07-30T23:32:00.000-08:00

I will die of happiness if they make this.

Pictures

2006-07-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't win the Lake Placid Half-Marathon. My time was about 2hr 4 min, and the winner did something like 1hr 5min. So I was pretty close.

Things I learned:
1) Although uncomfortable at first, running in cold mist is good for the body.
2a) I have the World's Smallest Bladder.
2b) This will be an issue during the NYC marathon - no woods for me to pee in.
3) Need to work on my pacing. During the first 7 miles I ran a too-slow-but-comfortable 10 minute mile. The rest were about 8 minute miles, and the last one was an 7 minute mile sprint.

It was a truly wonderful experience. We stayed in a rather quaint log cottage 3 miles from the finish line. I went to bed at 11pm, but probably slept 2 hours total. Got up at 6am, started drinking and eating, and then off to the site.

Going through that finish line was an unbelievable feeling. I placed rather low in my category, but it doesn't matter: approaching an official finish line, with a digital clock, and people yelling your name, the PA announcing "Gabriel Florit from Saratoga Springs, coming in strong", ... it was all worth the pain I felt immediately afterwards and for the next 15 minutes.

And God bless the lady that offered me a cup full of warm chicken broth.

Here's some pictures to prove I'm not making this up.

And finally, watch my decapitated head mysteriously reappear as I cross the finish line (this might take a second or two to load - blame it on the internets and the tubes and the congestion and so forth):

NYC Marathon!

2006-06-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

I'm in!

Over 37,000 will run this year's event. Unbelievable. I'm too excited to think.

Summer is here to stay.

2006-06-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who kept bugging me for an update. It... feels good.

First, pictures of my parents' recent visit. No, that will come later. First, a quick summary of what's going on.

-busy at work, still enjoying it.

-training for the NYC Marathon, this November 5. If I don't get in (it's a lottery, only 35,000 make it out of about twice that number of applicants) I'll run the New Hampshire Marathon, Sept. 30. Next Sunday I'll be doing the Lake Placid Half-Marathon. That should be fun (I think I'm ready, ran 14 miles two weeks ago). I was there earlier this year... drove up to Whiteface to ski, but the car broke down 1/2 mile before the resort. Ended up staying at Lake Placid overnight, and started going to church again. I bet it was my mother making God make me not ski on Sunday.

-yes, I've turned to running/cycling since the ski season is over. And gardening. I moved my tomatoes and sweet peppers outside last week. I think the rabbit finds the sweet peppers' leaves tasty... hmm, maybe that isn't so bad after all. I mean, I do have a recipe for Rabbit Stew. Nah, better wait another month, he's too small right now.

-the herbs that I planted from seed are not faring so well. This gardening thing is harder than I thought. It looked so easy in that book.

-I'm now attending a couple of churches, Terra Nova, in Troy, and Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian, in Schenectady. Both 30 min driving distance. The first one is very contemporary, all Praise & Worship (it's well done, I like it - I know, I know, that's not like me at all) and full of young professionals. The second one is... well, not contemporary, sometimes only psalms. I like both for different reasons. It feels good to have found Christian communities at last.

That's about it, really. Sorry if I didn't post earlier. Figured out why I hate posting, earlier today while ironing my shirt: you're all so far away. I mean, every comment reminds me of the distance that separates me from those I knew/saw often.

That's the truth.

Here's some pictures.

Downtown Saratoga, where I work (actually I'm there right now).

Overlooking the Sacandaga Lake, 30 min north of Saratoga.

The Congress Park. I go to eat lunch there every now and then. It's a quiet place.

Same.

Vote

2006-04-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Whaddya think of the reading list? Stupid, Pretty Stupid, or Ridiculous?

APHC trailer

2006-03-22T16:42:00.000-09:00

Watch A Prairie Home Companion Movie trailer.

Garrison Keillor is one homely guy.

Spring is on its way

2006-03-20T08:48:00.000-09:00

unfortunately, because it means no more snow. But more on that later.

Last October I went canoeing down the Kayaderoseras creek with Ken, a friend from work. This body of water runs (literally) behind my house, its origins in the Adirondack mountains. It took us about 3 hours to get to the Saratoga Lake. A lot of fun.

Now let's get to the reason why my posting halted for almost a month. Skiing. I'm addicted. How did it start, you ask? Well, everyone at work skiis. I'd see them put their skiing gear on and leave early on Tuesday nights, but never thought about going myself. Eventually Ken convinced me to try out one of the local Ski Discovery packages (lesson and bunny slope lift ticket). I loved it. Wasn't too good, of course. Even on the bunny slope I could barely make a turn. But of course, practice makes perfect, and on the third night all of a sudden it happened: I could make parallel turns!

Skiing is perhaps the single most fun thing one could do during the winter season.

These were taken two days ago at Jay Peak, Vermont. Eric (from work) and I drove 4 hours to Northern Vermont, where for some strange reason a snow cloud sits on this mountain all through March. In the past 3 weeks they've had 3 feet of snow. Even the forest areas were skiable: they get so much snow that the resort encourages you to ski through the woods, or glades. It was unbelievable. I'd be going down a regular tree-cleared trail, find an opening in the woods, get in, slow down (because the snow came up to my knees), try to avoid the trees, and then come out to another man-made trail.

That's yours truly under all those layers.

Update

2006-02-25T11:15:00.000-09:00

1) Last weekend we had a powerful windstorm sweep through the north country, leaving about 245,000 people without electricity, including yours truly. During my morning run on Friday the wind was gentle but picking up, temperature mild at 57. At work we all went to a pub for lunch, and the lights went out while we were cheering the US women hockey team. That was the end of our work day, and we cheered some more, ate and drank and made merry, and then slowly trickled out of the increasingly cold establishment. I went back to my house. At 3:45pm, living room is at a stable 57. Took a nap, woke up at 9pm. Temperature: 51. Outside temperature: 12. Walked around in complete darkness, for alas I do not own a flashlight. Used my cellphone to pee. Then decided I had to get white gas for my camping stove.
After driving halfway to Boston I found a 24 hours Wal-Mart, bought a lantern, then hunted for kerosene, and drove home. By 5am there was a bright lantern glowing in my kitchen, BBC static coming out of a pocket radio, antenna wrapped in copious amounts of aluminum paper to increase the reception, and my MSR stove diligently boiling water. I drank lots of tea, filled my water bag with hot water, and slept on the couch, after closing all the bedroom and bathroom doors. Living room temperature at 5am: 47. Outside temperature: 9. Woke up at 10, still no power, living room temperature: 41. Started my stove again, made mac & cheese, and minutes before Bush's weekly presidential speech the lights came back on, at 11:55am. Enjoyed Bush's talk on nu-kee-lerr power.

2) Tomorrow I drive to Montreal, to see Belle & Sebastian and The New Pornographers! Am extremely excited. Show starts at 8pm, so I might have to sleep in my van before driving home.

3) Had one of the most exciting afternoons here so far: on Wednesday I had my coworkers wish me luck, and then walked to a sports bar to watch Chelsea vs Barcelona, on a big screen. The place was empty (it was 2:30pm). I suffered as we started losing, 1-0. Decided maybe soccer was a nonsensical activity, and was ready to walk back and give up on this thing. Then we tied, 1-1, and I was proud to be from Catalunya. I started talking to the screen, standing, with one hand on head and the other waving around. I yelled at my team, giving them directions, cursing the englishmen. When the 1-2 came I was ecstatic, pounding my fist on the fake wood table, three times, and yelled "GOOOOOOOOL!" twice.

Walked back to work with a huge smile, and programmed for the rest of the evening with a rather high heart rate. That night I slept with my Barcelona scarf under pillow. This is true.

4) I'm running a marathon, June 11. It should be fun.

I'm addicted to running. When I'm out there my joints and muscles give up long before I want them to, so I keep pushing. Every morning I feel like running forever, which is of course not possible, since I have to shower eat breakfast drive to work and code.

5) That's it for now. I have lots more to say, but will save it for later.

Northern border Fence

2006-02-05T15:17:00.000-09:00

In a recent interview on "As It Happens", a republican senator whose name eludes me talked about the need for constructing a fence between the US and Canada, to keep out evil-doers. The proposed construction would run at about a million dollars a mile, and would, of course, be rather long. When he mentioned something about "ensuring that the resources are being used adequately to construct the fence" I couldn't help but picture this:

Let's hope they don't run out of villagers. I hate it when that happens.

Metallica on Peer Impact

2006-02-03T07:36:00.000-09:00

Not that I like this particular group, but almost everyone else does. And Peer Impact now carries their music, starting today.

Yes, they do have the right to print whatever the hell they want

2006-02-02T09:22:00.000-09:00

Cirque Du Soleil

2006-02-01T09:30:00.000-09:00

One of the nice things about working at WurldMedia: tickets to the latest Cirque Du Soleil show, Delirium, this Saturday.

guess where gabe will be Feb. 26?

2006-02-01T07:05:00.000-09:00

Montreal.

!!!!!!!!!!!! New Pornographers + Belle & Sebastian!

2006-01-29T11:13:00.000-09:00

in the following places:
Feb.26, Montreal
Feb.27,28, Boston
March 2-3, NYC sold out

which one do I pick? I need help. All these places involve a 3 hour drive.

Also (I love living here) Aimee Mann will be at Montreal in February.

on the B.B. King concert

2006-01-29T08:59:00.000-09:00

It was good. In terms of quality, much better than when I saw Dylan in Sioux Falls way back when (although that night was memorable in a number of ways: 1) it was Dylan, after all, 2) Ryan (Scott's older brother, and one of my roommates at the time) could NOT stop shouting "It's f***ing Bob Dylan! It's f***ing Bob Dylan!", 3) to our left sat several of the Dordt profs, including Charlie Adams and wife, and Syd Hielema). After all these years, Dylan's voice just does not sound the same any more, whereas B.B. King's guitar work sounds as tight as his screaming singing blues. And if not for the chair where he sat during the concert, it'd be hard to notice he's 80 years old already. Some interesting moments of the evening:

- I park, start walking to the Palace Theatre, and hear a man inside a car asking two cops for directions to the garage (where I just parked). One of the officers didn't know, and was pointing in the wrong direction. I approached, said "No, it's not there, go down this street, take the first left". The one cop glared angrily at me, the other one smiled and nodded "thanks".

- The two opening acts featured lots of blackface Twin Reverbs, which made me proud, although I'll NEVER get those sounds out of mine.

- B.B. King's Lucille was plugged into some sort of heavily scratched maroon solid state-looking amp, which after some research is a discontinued Gibson Lab 2x12.

- Near the end B.B. King invited a young lady in the audience to come up and play with him. She had loooong hair, down to her ankles, and was a really good blues player. They sat her next to King, and that was the best part of the concert: both trading licks. It was beautiful to watch his face while she played, you could tell he was having so much fun.

In conclusion I'm very glad to have been there. I mean, he's an institution.

because it's happening right now

2006-01-27T09:30:00.000-09:00

I was trying to start this paragraph with "One thing I really hate" but that doesn't do it justice. No, I abhor it, I loath it, it creates a strongly negative physiological response, it flattens my mood, etc. You get it. I HATE revisiting old code (that I wrote) to fix a bug. And my co-workers agree: it gives one the chills.

For you non-programmers out there, I'm sure you can understand the situation: creating something you think was well done, and then finding out (months later) that it wasn't.

Aaaaaaarrrrrg! (gabe angry)

A little evil

2006-01-26T08:34:00.000-09:00

Google's "Don't be evil" motto is no more. Yesterday they bowed to peer pressure and struck a deal with the Chinese government. google.cn is the new search engine portal in China, but results will be censored. Try for yourself: type "Tiananmen Square protests" in google.com, and then compare.

Google doesn't need more money, but they can risk looking bad. A couple years ago this would have been bad PR, but now they're impossible to avoid. I'll do my best, however, and start using Teoma for a change, at least until Nutch becomes implemented.

Next is changing the google browser toolbar...

on AJAX and Web 2.0/3.0

2006-01-23T16:05:00.000-09:00

Last summer I spent a considerable amount of my free time learning AJAX (for those who don't know what I'm talking about, see here and here). The goal of my very small 2-person team was to produce a tree-like navigational web application. Actually, the real goal was to experiment with AJAX and non-relational databases (read U2 and multi-dimensional) instead of the ubiquitous LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). One of my computer science profs was all about ditching the relational database, an effort which I think is in vain, since they're here to stay. Plus the alternatives are much harder to learn, so we're done with that point.

Anyways.

Using AJAX turned out to be not-so-simple, and made me remember the infancy of the interweb, the late 90's, when using JavaScript to detect browsers was commonplace. Ugh. Like anything else, it's what you know (or not) that makes it harder than it should be. In this case, I very much didn't know enough to get that groovy navigational app going... but the appeal was so strong! Think Google Maps, or GMail, or Google Suggest, or Flickr, etc.

Alas fate had other plans in store for me. I got hired as a server-side programmer and went back to Java, XML and other J2EE technologies.

Until now. Having a little bit of experience with afore-mentioned technology, I got put in charge of coming up with an AJAX framework for the next version of our software. This is exciting news indeed, since in my opinion we should all be embracing it (of course, as long as we remember form follows function). Step number one was to pick up the latest AJAX book. Step number two was to read as much as possible in 5 days, and start coding. Step number three was to stumble upon a Jeffrey Zeldman article, on ALA, that mentions "wireframing AJAX is a bitch"? Surely it can't be that tough... And even more puzzling, a bunch of ALA members posting agreeable comments???

Maybe the coming together of server-side programming and web design that AJAX represents is making some web monkeys afraid, because of their lack of business logic skills (as well as other non-related computer hacking, bostaff and ninja skills). Maybe Zeldman forgot about all the third-party libraries that will put together nifty AJAX apps. Maybe I never really tried coming up with a production-ready framework (this is true) and it WILL be a bitch to wireframe.

In any case it's here to stay. As for the raging debate re: Web 1.0/2.0/3.0, who cares...

Christmas in Lochcarron

2006-01-02T16:51:00.000-09:00

As promised.

(Mostly) about Jack's movies

2005-12-31T10:31:00.000-09:00

Almost posted this huge comment on Jack's blog, but since it might be of general interest, it goes here.

Every Christmas my brother and I fish out the camcorder and go through the obligatory takes: parents preparing the meal, us four eating at a nicely Christmas-decorated table, us four opening presents, plus other fun stuff that isn't really fun if you weren't part of it. This year, however, it occurred to me I'd tried something different. I was shooting my brother watching my father cut the bird, and heard dad say "see you have to cut it like this". I stopped the camera, quickly approached the scene, so the turkey was filling all the screen, and then hit record. That was the beginning of a long series of movie-like moments that night, some of them more acted than others, so that the final product was quite interesting, looking edited, but not really, since all I had was a VHS tape camcorder. Watching it was so much fun! What a thrill to see my dad walk over to the table, take out a match, making the striking match motion, and before he hits the box, a close-up of the match-striking action, and the candle being lit. That particular moment wasn't acted, dad simply had to use two matches to get the candle lit, and I walked in on his fingers on the second match-strike.

Ever since then I've been contemplating making a movie.
1) No script yet. It would be mostly me as the main character, since I don't have any friends in the area yet. I might need a short female role, and this would also be a great pickup line.
2) It would be about someone like me, since, of course, I've to work with what is available. Basically this is me wanting to see how easy/hard it is to make a believable movie.
3) Everyone has experience as a director. In other words, if you watch films on a regular basis you're bound to have a rough idea of what works. This would be my only education (so far).
4) I'm thinking of contacting the local community theater. Never tried acting, but would love to. This would be a good opportunity to start something completely new, stretch myself, and meet new people.
5) The main obstacle to this project: no camera. Ah yes. More thoughts on this.
5a) I don't mind the Dancer in the Dark feel, the camcorder feel, but I'd much rather have the film feel. You can see my level of technical expertise here... I don't know how to explain it, but sitcoms and home videos don't look as good as films. I think it has to do with the camera being used, or the film.
5b) It will have to be a digital camera, since a film camera would entail buying film and developing, and this is only a hobby. I'm a computer programmer.
5c) I bet there's a way of shooting digital video (i.e. using a camcorder) and processing it so it feels like film.
6) I've been observing actors much more carefully now. Last night I saw People You Know, the Al Pacino PR movie. He's amazing. Some people can pull off amazing performances, they immediately strike you as heavy and serious and trascendental.
7) I went to Jack's blog, hunted down the link to his movies. For those who don't know him, Jack graduated from Dordt, as most of us, and spent a semester in L.A. doing a film studies project, where he did these 3 movies. My favorite one is Perfection. Jack, this bit is for you. I think that girl is really good, especially the bit when she's on the phone. Very believable. He's too stoic for my taste, almost no emotion. There's a couple of really cool camera moments, one where the girl is on the left side of the screen, and then she's on the right side, at a different time. Cool. How did you do the bit where the camera moves from her feet to her face, rapidly moving vertically upwards? During the meal, did you have two cameras, or one? Just noticed that this girl is prettier than the one in the other movie, the widescreen one. This is, of course, subjective, but in your opinion, is it easier to be drawn to a pretty face? I mean, if she would have been ugly, would I say "she's very believable"? Maybe you have some thoughts about it. Finally, how did you do the last shot? Did you use a crane?
8) Jack, can you explain how I can get the "film" feel without $15K?

That's all for now. I might go read Sartre's Nausea now. It's about a man living by himself. Since that's me as well, it might provide some good ideas for a script.

Will post Lochcarron pictures later.

November Barcelona trip photos

2005-12-29T14:35:00.000-09:00

If you really want more, ask, but most of them were of the Camp Nou, and as you'll see, a 3-dollar camera doesn't work well at night.

Noisy germans drinking heavily and rooting for Werder Bremen hours before the game. They lost, of course.

The Camp Nou, during the Champions League anthem. Notice the football flag being waved around, and the two teams, Werder Bremen and F.C. Barcelona, behind it. Approximately 67.000 spectators that Tuesday night.

My grandparents at their summer house, which is about an hour's trip southwest from Barcelona, in a town called Santa Oliva (Holy Olive).

View from the living room upstairs.

View from the door downstairs.

More pictures coming. Tomorrow I'll post some of Lochcarron, taken by my parents (mostly).

Back from Lochcarron

2005-12-28T15:27:00.000-09:00

This is where I was for the past 5 1/2 days:

From left to right: the old manse, the old church, the new church, my parents' house. It wasn't that sunny most of the time, actually it was sunny for 2 hours on Friday and 1 on Monday morning. It always rains in the West Coast. Not complaning though, it's a beautiful place.

Two Europe trips in less than 4 weeks! Almost excessive, feels like I haven't been around Saratoga Springs lately. Feels good to be back. I love routine, and getting one down just right.

Will probably post a new year's list later. In the meantime I'll accept suggestions for New Year's Eve. Last year I spent Christmas' Eve by myself, first preparing a special supper while listening to SAD carols on NPR, then eating supper all by myself, then reading Crime and Punishment. I quit the latter after an hour, it was making me depressed (duh).

This year I'm thinking of going to one of the Jazz clubs for the midnight hours, but maybe you people have other ideas. I could always plan a weekend camping trip in the Adirondacks, it'll only be higher twenties, which is warmer than usual.

Photograph authors: first one unknown, second one Alex Ingram, local Lochcarron photographer.

rrrrrrrr grrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, rrrrrr rrrrrrrrr rrrrrrr!

2005-12-16T07:27:00.000-09:00

that's Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, in case you didn't speak Chewbaccan.

the best song ever totally, dude.

i hope not to become

2005-12-09T18:07:00.000-09:00

an addict to blog-posting, you see it's been 3 in two days, but what the hell, what's one to do in upstate new york with lots of time and lots of snow, but shovel the snow and post the blogs.

Soooo.... yesterday at poker night (7pm: bible study, 8pm: poker, not kidding), after me losing two precious dollars, we played our weekly question game. Everyone gets one card, the highest card ask the lowest card a question, anything, lo que sea, everything goes. In that spirit:

If you were given wings with which to fly anywhere, where would you go right now? (Ignore eventual tiredness, or cold temperatures, for all practical purposes I could have asked where'd you like to be beamed to, but wings are more romantic than Scottie and the teletransporter).

Whaaaaaaat???????

2005-12-09T08:30:00.000-09:00

1) Yesterday Creative announces the Zen Vision: M. On paper the specifications look impressive, beating the iPod Video with a better screen, bigger storage, better file handling capacity, and other features such as FM tuner, voice recorder, image zoom, etc.

Although this could be the definite iPod killer, or at least the device that de-stabilizes Apple's ridiculous mp3 player monopoly, I kept hearing "lawsuit". I mean, the thing looks like an iPod Video. Time for Apple's lawyers to get busy. Or so I thought:

2) Today Creative announces that it will sue Apple. Turns out that Creative filed an mp3 player menu navigation patent on January 2001. Apple released the iPod October 2001. Creative's patent application was awarded this August, while Apple's user interface patent has been rejected, also this August.

3) At $8 a share (vs. $70 for Apple), now is the time to invest in Creative stock.

N minus 1

2005-12-08T14:10:00.000-09:00

That's right, in less than 24 hours it'll be N-Day, Narnia Day, The Beginning of A (Hopefully) Very Good Series Of Films. To be precise, 7. I really hope Disney and co. put out all of them. The BBC only did four, supposedly because producing The Last Battle would be "too Christian". Oh well. Like some reviewers say, if you're putting an obvious analogy on the big screen, better go all the way.

If you saw the BBC' mini-series, listen to the main theme. In my mind, much more evocative than any of the Lord Of The Rings themes.

I spent 9 days in Barcelona last month. I'll post pictures soon. It was a lot of fun: I visited my grandparents on my dad's side (he's their only son/offspring, so that side of the family is pretty small), and all the family on my mom's side (she's the second of 9, and I'm the first of ~25 cousins). It was almost like business: every day was busy (in a good way). Let's see: got there on Sunday, took a nap, ate lots of prosciutto and bread and cheese, watched a lot of soccer, as a matter of fact I drooled over Barcelona's history-defining 0-3 win against Real Madrid (they were playing while I was flying to Spain, which was unfortunate, but that Sunday all the spanish newspapers featured 10+ pages covering the game - yes, soccer IS religion, Kuyper had it waaaaay wrong). Monday: ate lots of prosciutto for lunch and supper, watched soccer again, went to the stadium to purchase tickets for Tuesday and Sunday night games, coordinated family visits on the phone. Tuesday: ate lots of prosciutto for breakfast, went to the stadium at around noon to buy a scarf (note: do not wear a Barcelona-colors scarf whilst in Barcelona, unless you're going to a game. It makes you look stupid), ate really tasty food here with grandparents, went to the stadium. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! Words cannot explain the feeling. It was fabulous. I ate my prosciutto-and-baguette-and-tomato-and-olive-oil sandwich (grandma made it), drank beer, and saw the best soccer team in the world (according to all major sports newspapers worldwide). The stadium wasn't full, only 67.000 people, but it felt like it.
Wednesday: prosciutto and cafe-au-lait for breakfast, lunch with Edmundo, one of my uncles. He's a jeweller with indian features and a long pony tail, and recently married Dolores, a gypsy woman from Andalucia. Went to Carlos' place for supper, he's another uncle, married and with 5 kids, living in an apartment smaller than a Southview one. Also there were Mayer and Febe, Mayer's the third cousin, Edmundo's oldest, 23 (I think), Febe's his lovely wife of 11 months, he paints buildings hanging on the outside, no scaffolding, sitting on a harness. Crazy. She's a secretary for this Scientific Magazine publishing house. I don't remember all the details. Thursday morning I went to Cerdanyola, a Barcelona suburb, to Gina and Paco's place. Gina, the oldest (my mother is next) is a classical piano professor at the conservatory, and Paco is a postman with chronic something-in-his-arm so he's not working right now, on worker's comp. or the spanish equivalent. Besides their 2 girls (actually 3, but Rebeca is studying at Bob Jones - yes, the devil's lair) Elisabet and Yani, Pablo and Noelia were also there. Pablo finished the classical guitar career (all seven years) a while ago, and is now a minister (why????? gosh I would've stayed with the guitar). He's still quite amazing. Went back to Barcelona that night, and on Friday morning ate more prosciutto and brie and beer, went out to another restaurant with my grandparents (El Nou Celler, can't find the website), and talked about the civil war, Franco (that week Spain was commemorating 30 years since his death, which nicely coincided with Real Madrid's 0-3 defeat by a catalan team - during Franco's day that would have been impossible, since he made sure the referees wouldn't let any team beat Madrid), and soccer.
Friday night I went to see Ceci and Juanjo: Ceci's one of the younger sisters in my mom's family, and she teaches english in a language school, Juanjo works as a systems administrator (yuuuuk) and is finishing his computer science studies. Boy was that a depressing night! Even though they've got good jobs, good careers, a nice apartment, loving family-members, and good health, Juanjo basically hates his life because Spain is such a horrible place to live, and he wants to move here. Gosh I'll make sure not to hang out with them too much, they're bound to make anyone depressed. Well it's not Ceci's fault, she's content, but I think some of his bitterness has rubbed off on her. Unfortunate really. Make the best with what you've got, I say. I think they should fly to Peru and live there for a year, see what they say then.
Saturday we went to my grandparents' summer house in Santa Oliva, lunch in a nice beachside restaurant, talked about the Spanish civil war, Franco's death, what they did the day his death was announced (bottle of champagne), my dad's birth, their retirement, etc. Sunday morning went to the local church where we were 7. Including my grandparents and I. It's true, being a missionary in Spain is, oh, very hard. Kind of over before you start it, really.
Went to another nice restaurant for lunch, where I had tasty paella and "Bull's Blood" red wine. And to the stadium again that night, a different seat, but still a lot of fun. I am so glad I could see Barcelona play. The following morning my plane took off at 7am. And now I am here.

If you felt that food and soccer were the main themes during my visit, you'd be right: spaniards quit working at 2pm and resume at 5pm. OF COURSE you need 3 hours for lunch.

But I was glad to be back: I love my job, I love this area, I love the jazz scene. I just wish I could find a church with no P&W. Can't stand it. I've tried. It makes me laugh and cringe at the same time, which is probably not good since some people are praising God while I mock them. That's why I always make sure I'm half an hour late. Maybe I should try the Lutheran one, but the sermon is so short, fifteen minutes! I'm left wanting. Where's Herm when you need him?

And tomorrow I don't know which to see first: Narnia or Syriana. Any leftist movie that tickles the White House in all the wrong places (and doesn't resort to sensationalism a la Michael Moore) is bound to be an interesting watch. Have you people seen All The President's Men? or Wag The Dog?

I had lots of topics to discuss, like Maoist terrorist groups and lucid dreaming and Saddam (or why I'd like to slap him, not hit, slap), but that'll have to wait. It seems my writing inspiration comes in profound bursts, like a healthy case of diarrhea: swooooooooosh!

NBC Universal and Wurld Media Announce on Demand Deal for Movie and TV Event Content on Peer Impact Service

2005-11-17T10:18:00.000-09:00

This hit the news wires at 11:15 am. Below is an excerpt:

Englewood Cliffs, NJ and Saratoga Springs, NY –November 17, 2005 – NBC Universal and Wurld Media, the creator of the legitimate Peer to Peer (P2P) service Peer Impact, today announced an agreement that will make Universal movies and NBC Universal TV events content available to Peer Impact customers on demand. This agreement marks the first ever license of major studio content to a legitimate P2P service. Titles will be available for rental for a 24-hour viewing period after purchase.

"NBC Universal has a long history of embracing technology to better serve our viewers," said Bob Wright, vice chairman of GE and chairman and CEO of NBC Universal. "This agreement is a significant step forward in our goal to capitalize on the myriad possibilities of new digital-media services, in a way that allows us to safeguard our content from illegal distribution."
Peer Impact offers its users a secure, high quality environment for rental and purchase of digital content, including music, video games, and with this announcement, for the first time, major film and television event titles. For the benefit of its users, all content is placed on the P2P network by Wurld Media - no unauthorized content can be introduced on to the network.

As with all digital content that is traded over Peer Impact, users will earn Peer Cash for their participation in distributing videos on the network and for recommending video purchases to others. Peer Impact’s unique technology allows members to earn cash back for acting as “paid redistributors” of content purchased over the network. Users simply leave their computers on, and if they are selected as a source of fulfillment for purchases on the network, they receive Peer Cash that may be used toward future purchases.

On demand movies from the Universal film library include Academy-Award winning films "Ray" and "The Motorcycle Diaries; " recent titles such as "Meet the Fockers” and “The Bourne Supremacy” as well as upcoming premieres of "The Skeleton Key”, “Cinderella Man” and “The Forty Year Old Virgin.”

Big news. Really big news.

Peer Impact 2.0!

2005-11-15T14:07:00.000-09:00

Today we released Peer Impact 2.0 beta! This is rather exciting news (well at least for me it is). Other peer-to-peer companies might start hating us soon. In the meantime do please download it and tell me what you think. Why, you say? Well, upon signup (which takes 17 seconds) you get $5 towards music purchases. Besides, it's a really neat product. And I have been happily working on it for the last 3 months.

OK. Hopefully that's enough encouragement.

Walmart!

2005-11-12T16:28:00.000-09:00

is the place where I bought the four-dollar cameras that took the following pictures. Wal-mart, of course, was also the place where I got them developed. And to round it off nicely, yes, I despise McDonald's also, but nothing beats a Big Mac. Sorry Margo, I know you hated making them. This weekend was eventful. I've kept myself busy, raking leaves, mowing the grass, taking pictures, getting them developed, and buying a bookcase. Recently (in the past month) read Coming Through Slaughter, Anil's Ghost, The Book of Daniel, and The Da Vinci Code. Any of you read any of these? Any thoughts/comments? I started the Da Vinci one at 7pm, in the upstairs of Saratoga's Borders, and finished it at 4:33am, on my couch. Just couldn't stop reading.

OK. Here are the pictures. Click on them for a larger version. My apartment in Sioux Center, hours before leaving. Thank you, Arlo, for all the help.

My 1998 Windstar, also hours before leaving. All my worldly possessions were in that van. Notice the maroon body board leaning against the wall. That'll come in handy in the Adirondack Mountains...

The World's Most Wholesomest Couple, minutes before Gabe sighed a heavy sigh and cried "Oh, farewell, my love, my eternal companion, my Sioux Center! In your womb you carry my darkest secrets! Oh adieu my Iowa! I shall miss you eternally! Oh, the humanity! Ah, the despair! The horror! The horror!".

Sorry Sarah, your picture turned out too dark. An ill omen, perhaps?

Somewhere in Iowa. I deemed it necessary to take a picture, lest I forget the sights and sounds...

My new residence, at least until Summer 2006. I do love the blue trim.

Up close and personal.

The living room. Observe the equine details: those aren't mine. They came with the house (as all the furniture, TV, DVD player, dishes, 2 bottles of wine, lawnmower (not the push-me pull-you hodrdrdrdrdr kind), etc., etc.)

As aforementioned, that buggy isn't mine. No, seriously.

My bedroom, at night. Some of my biggest fans will recognize the bear-rug.

Bedroom during the day. Notice the view. Do you see the fork in the tree, out the window?

The same fork. Still from my bedroom, but I opened the window this time. I think my room is directly facing east.

Here I went outside, and around the house, leaning against the outside bedroom wall.

Same location, this time looking a little bit to the left. I think the night before we had a decent storm, hence the table cloth. Come winter I'll have to bring all the outdoor furniture into the garage.

People here aren't as obsessed about their lawns as Iowans. I think I went without a mow for 6 weeks before this.

One last picture of the bedroom view. It's not so pretty now: all the leaves are gone. When the snow comes I'll post more pictures of the backyard.

That's all folks! My guitar teacher is playing at One Caroline, as we speak. OK maybe he's out for a fag, but in any case I'll go check it out. Next Saturday I'm off to Barcelona for 9 days. And for the first time in my life, and along with 98,599 others I'll attend my Church, The Cathedral,the one true place of Worship, where my blood turns blue and red: F.C. Barcelona's football stadium, the Camp Nou. Behold the beauty.

Charlie Kaufman is my friend

2005-10-27T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well, a friend of a friend.

Actually, he exchanged words with the friend of a girl that works at Borders. Yes, that one.

This is what happened:

Act I.
Saratoga Springs, inside the public library.
Gabriel walks in to Higher Grounds Cafe, enters set from the left.
Mystery girl at the counter, talking to an old lady who fusses about the chocolate cake on counter.
Gabriel waits for lady to be done, then timidly approaches counter.

Mystery Girl - "Hi, what can I get you?"
Gabriel - "A small cafe au lait please."
MG - "What coffee would you like me to use?" (MG proceeds to list a number of coffeehouse-sounding coffees, like toasted cinnamon and hazelnut vanilla).
G - "uh, I thought cafe au lait was done with french press"
MG - (taking an air of confidence in her coffee skills) "No, that's a latte, do you mean the one with the espresso shot in it? Yeah, that's a latte. I can make you a latte."
G - (secretly knowing that a cafe au lait indeed does have french press coffee, whereas a latte is espresso mixed with steamed milk, and depending on the crema of the espresso, can yield beautiful latte art - he knows this because he accomplished a half-assed apple once while showing off at the Humble Bean) "OK, a small latte then".
G - (quickly realizes that this is his chance) "Do you know they're filming a movie right across the street from us?"
MG - (looks up) "Oh?"
G - (feeling empowered and bold at MG's response to G's poor pickup line) "Yes, you know the building right across from us?" (points at window behind MG) "That's where I work. Yesterday we were told not to come in during Sunday, because a film crew would be using part of our offices to shot a movie. See that orange sign in the parking lot? It says No Parking, Temporary Police Order".
MG - (looking truly interested, replies while working the espresso machine) "Oh, maybe that's why I saw Charlie Kaufman."
G - (interrupts, now on a roll) "Really? Kaufman? When?"
MG - "I was at Borders and a friend of mine, working with me, points it out, that Charlie Kaufman had stopped by, and I didn't know how he looked, but she did. Anyways he forgot his cellphone and comes back for it, I ask 'Excuse me are you Charlie Kaufman?' and he says yes."
G - (rather excited, maybe too much) "Wow. That is very cool. How did he look?"
MG - "Plain, black curly hair. Two fifty-five please."
G - (realizes this is it, the end of conversation, and manages to keep it going while searching for change) "Have you seen any of his movies?"
MG - "Yes, Being John Malkovich."
G - "How about Adaptation?"
MG - "Oh yes, that's right, he also did that one. Yeah I saw it, kind of weird."
G - "Well if it's Kaufman writing this one it'll probably be weird as well."
MG - (nods in approval).
G - (silently happy, glad he took the chance, already expecting her to become his one true love, constructs scenarios in his mind, fast-forward 2 months and they're going out together, he buys her flowers, comes to pick her up at Borders after work, takes her to his place, cooks european food, serves expensive wine, thrills her with his dashing spanish looks and that oh-so-subtle je-ne-sais-quois, sophisticated flair, quasi-mystical aura, after dinner they sit on the couch, his rather expensive 17th century Tibetan couch, and he thanks his lucky stars, as she leans forward and whispers, "oh gab..." ---)
MG - "Thanks, have a nice day."
G - "Thanks" (Walks out the door into library, sweaty armpits, feeling victorious).

If it would have ended here, no harm would have been done, I'd almost say some good would have been done, I mean at least we had a 3 minute conversation! I'm laying the foundation here folks, I'm working my magic.

But.

Idiotical creep alter ego manages to convince me and I walk back in to show her the "cool" pictures I took of our office yesterday on my cellphone so you can say that if the movie makes it big well you can say that you saw pictures of the set before anyone else, neat huh?

?????

What a moron.

Damn!

2005-10-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

I lost my links.

The DB's are to blame. I'm a sucker when it comes to pleasing friends. Even better if they're good looking females. And I know their favorite color is pink indeed.

I KNOW YOU HAVE PINK SHOES SARAH.

On a Saturday night?

2005-10-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

Yes. I am posting on a Saturday night.

Came up here to the office to reiterate, this is awesome! I just listened to an hour of quality jazz, the Jon Leroy trio, at 9 Maple Avenue. An organ player with two keyboards, left hand doing the walking bassline thing, right hand flying away. Solid drummer, constantly switching stick ends, and the guitarist, good grief! Very nice Gibson L5 (I think) routed through an EQ to get rid of feedback usually caused by open jazz boxes (most jazz guitars are built like cellos, and the L5 has the f-holes a violin would have, thereby causing feedback when you're too close to the noise source, but I put you to sleep already. sigh) and plugged into a rather bluesy sound Fender JazzKing. All in all a quality time. A free concert every night, beer or not. Which leads to the next thing: in Howards End, Anthony Hopkins' character tells Emma Thompson, when they go out for tea, "Always tip the waiter, if you tip the waiter he will remember you". Following that advice, I am tipping the 9 Maple Av. bartender a dollar per beer. Instead of $4, I give him a fiver. Before too long I shall become the Godfather of Maple Avenue.

Too bad there's only one establishment on that avenue/alley...

Back to jazz. It takes me 47 sec. to get there from work, and I think their smoke break must be over by now.

Shirley.

Coming soon to a theater near you

2005-10-22T08:33:00.000-08:00

This entry is being written in short spurts, while I wait for the screen to stop being busy and let me continue my work. I'd love to give more details, but I can't. Suffice it to say that I still love what I do! I brought in my electric guitar today, and as I walk in a USPS guy holds the door and remarks, "guitar to work huh? Must be a good job!". "It is a very good job", I replied. When I got to our room upstairs everyone crowded around Pantalones' guitar. C. (the resident guitar guru, he's quite good, fast and heavy-metal inclined - we usually hear about 20 min. of good and loud Metallica every day, courtesy of his Gibson/Fender guitar/amp combination) plugged it in and rocked away, while all 11 of us watched. 8 minutes later, "what's the verdict, C.?" I ask. "I hate the tremolo, but it's got a nice fat sound". Ever since changing the strings my old electric sounds so much nicer. I put really thick strings on, makes it hard to bend a note, but delivers a warm tone. Good for my soon to come previously mentioned Smooth Jazz Vol. 76.

Four of us went to Little India for lunch. Not a daily occurrence, since it's more of a sit-down meal. My Keena Mutter was verrah spicy. Was sweating like a greek mad cow who sees the health inspectors stealthily approaching with a double-barrel shotgun. Sorry, I was trying the "use-images-in-your-writing" approach, maybe it makes for interesting reading.

-------------------------------------

It's Saturday right now. Last night at happy hour the CEO bought everyone beer, which was nice. Everyone is very friendly here, the complete opposite of what I thought corporate America would be. Then E. and I went to jazz clubs to watch a guitarist and his looping pedal, a quartet (old geezer on drums, had a hard time walking around but did put a very aggressive beat to Miles Davis' So What, bassist that kept thinking he was playing a guitar and so burned away on his fretboard with phenomenally fast lines and comped fat chords, a trumpetist, and a saxophone who could really blow), and then back to the first venue for the guitarist plus pianist. A lot of fun, and good food and free beer (mostly). Went home a satisfied mind.

Then, today, here at WurldMedia to check my email, and there is a commotion going on in our building, I can see people coming in and out carrying boxes with film equipment. Turns out tomorrow part of this floor will be used for an indy film featuring Tim Daly and Tom Arnold, "The Skeptic". It's safe for me to walk around work today, but come Sunday no one is allowed to be in the building save for the film crew and one of our IT guys that will make sure everything is OK. Pretty exciting huh? There's a white van parked outside with less and less boxes inside of it as we type, a square-glasses guy wearing an Elvis Costello hat tipped sideways and a Dick Tracy grey coat, and two bossy looking, fashionably tight jeans and silk knee-high boots ladies walking around with cellphones and pointing fingers at walls. Of course when it's shown at Cannes the WurldMedia logo will be replaced with something else. Naturally.

I have no

2005-10-20T15:47:00.000-08:00

excuse, Sarah, for not posting earlier. Last week I told Ismael that I'm not about to become a heavy poster only to comment on daily trivial things such as the guy that walks in a bar and starts yelling because he has no cigarettes and anyways there is no public smoking in New York so this story is going nowhere but you get my point. Life here is good, and simple. Hence, if at any point in this post you yawn, please go here.

See? It's been a minute and still searching keyboard for inspiration. I will say that every morning I wake up and laugh of joy. My bedroom window overlooks the backyard. There's lots of trees, but since the yard slopes down to the river, sometimes it feels like the leaves are at my eyesight level. The morning sun doesn't come in through the east-facing window, but tries to penetrate the yellow foliage of the trees. The rays bounce off the river and make it silver. Combine that with a gentle breeze that sways the trees, and squirrels searching for breakfast, and I tell you, it is like a postcard. But true! And sorry if I ventured into kitsch with my description, but it was accurate. You'll have to come and visit.

Every day I get to work at around 9-9:30pm, but usually stay here until 7. I've been trying to figure out why I can't get home earlier. It always happens that when I go to bed I wish I'd come home before, so as to get more stuff done. But in the evenings, even when all my daily programming is done, I find myself browsing the web, or walking around Saratoga. I think it's the presence of other people. As a matter of fact even during the weekends I try to be out a lot. In the end this is nothing more than cowardly covering up the truth: I'm alone (not lonely, there is a difference). And by this I do not mean, Sarah and Scott, girl-less, but simply friend-less. It would be nice to have someone with whom to hang out, someone who already knows me. But wait a moment, this is also venturing into oh-I'm-so-sad-because-college-is-over-and-life-is-lonely-oh-poor-me territory, so no more.

Had my second jazz lesson this Monday. I've a feeling after Christmas I'll be with someone else. Sure, Joe is a very nice, patient, kind, etc. man, but he's not terribly qualified to teach jazz... or so I get the impression. Feels like he picked up all these things along the way, during the past 63 years. Besides, my methodical mind needs a firm hand, and he isn't giving me weekly exercises. I kind of feel lost, aimless.

Good grief this is tedious and boring. But you asked, folks.

NO I'm not a stalker. It's simply that she is beautiful, a rare face, makes me look down when she takes my order. And no, I don't go to Borders every day. I'm not obsessed (yet), merely observing the fact that God made some women rather pretty, for us mere mortals to sigh at.

And no, I will not let this go to the extent that my previous, ahem, obsession with, oh, ahm, a person that I saw often in a musical ensemble, maybe a, uhmm, keyboard player of sorts. None of that will happen again.

Or so I hope.

Onto other things: did you read about WurldMedia and Culligan Ball? It seems we're famous. Today at Chotchkie's (the affectionately named Uncommon Grounds cafe a minute from work), during lunch, one of the hippy (they're all hippies, probably pretend-hippies) girls taking our bagel-and-soup orders, upon seeing some of us wearing the t-shirt (yes we have one) runs to her fellow employee, drags him back, and says with a slight nod of the head, "do you see it? culligan ball, I told you!". Turns out some of them go to watch us play on Wednesdays. Very neat, I must say. My shirt should be here next week. Which nicely segues to the following:

I have been nicknamed "pantalones!" and everyone says it when I get here in the morning. Also been called "G-Money Pants", "G-Funk", "Gabe Pantalones", etc. Guess what will go on my Culligan t-shirt?

Jazz trivia: the Lee Shaw trio plays at One Caroline Bistro (the place next door) every week, and the pianist is an old lady that used to be John Medeski's (Medeski Martin & Wood) teacher.

Scott posted something about finding passion. I was, curiously enough, thinking about that on Monday. An italian chef being interviewed on NPR mentioned that for him, food was his passion (along with rock'n'roll and fast italian cars). I don't think I'm passionate about programming, I mean it certainly brings me satisfaction... but if I say I'm passionate about music, well how cliche and meaningless, such a standard answer. It's still true though, and the funny thing is it takes on different "persons" depending on the circumstances. Right now music seems to be a constant companion - oh gag this is trite and makes me cringe.

See, people, nothing I have to say is very interesting. Or in other words, I'm no writer. But I will continue posting bleh as long as possible.

But it is late, almost 9pm, and I've to go home and make dinner. On the menu for tonight: bread and sausage and beer, so it can be over quick and make room for jazz guitar.

In no time you will hear my lovely tunes while you enjoy the Weather Channel.

Or even better,

Scott V- "Uh, I don't like this place, Maria."
Maria (italian supermodel) - "Oh Scottie my darling, it doesn't matter, JC Penneys is my favorite place to be!"
(kisses Scott very affectionately)
Scott V- "Uh, Sarah, anything interesting to be bought?"
Sarah DB- "Uh no, this place makes me sick! Good Night!!!"
Roberto (italian supermodel)- "Oh Sarah but it is best place in de world, I sure to find bella clothes for you my apple pie!"
(grabs Sarah, twirls and kisses her)
Sarah DB- "Oh this must be heaven!"
Scott V - "It sure must be. Oh wait a moment, do I hear Gabe's latest Jazz Platinum Record coming through the speakers carefully placed so we can be lured to buy buy buy? Yes! It's his "Smooth Jazz Vol. 76"! Unmistakeable sound. Gosh I love J.C.Penney's!"

(Maria and Scott drive away in a Ferrari Dino to the latest Wilco concert (touring in Tuscany), Sarah and Roberto take the tram to Ted Kooser's lecture at the Alberto Muscatini hall)

(end of scene)

I almost shaved ...

2005-10-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

... my head this past weekend. But first, other news.

1 ) I finally decided that rotting shrimp smell is most definitely not a good thing to be had in my very small kitchen. Called a garbage pickup company, they charge $26.80/month for weekly pickups. Good grief! I paid 8 dollars in suck center. Complained about this, and my long-haired fellow employee noted that we have tons of cornfields on which to dump our garbage, and that makes it cheap. Had to agree on that one...

2) I haven't mowed my lawn in 3 WEEKS! This is an accomplishent, but if you haven't rented or kept a place in Iowa previously, let me explain that in the past 5 years I was indoctrinated and came to accept that The Lawn Must Be Kept Short or Else. I was wrong! Also, I have moles on my lawn. Keep killing their subterranean mansions every time I go to work, I can feel it.

3) Was called a midwesterner, after I spammed the entire company with the following: "Chalking lady seen walking south of the library, at around 10am". A seemingly innocuous email, but my keen sense of the 4 cardinal directions is not a skill to be found in east-coasters.

4) I cut my hair rather short. In other words, I had her use clippers. The next day the Saratoga DMV was graced with my presence, and upon furnishing the lady with my US passport, 4 out of 6 points needed to prove that I am indeed who I am, she exclaimed (rather loudly) "oh!". I have to live with that terrorist picture passport until March 30, 2011. What was I thinking??????? I looked horrible!

5) Wurldmedia was on the front page of Albany's Time Union newspaper. No mention of PeerImpact! Someone should have told the reporter what we actually are developing.

6) Was half-dragged to a bitchin' bump-n-grind club! Yeah baby! After a late-night event at someone's house (the party was dying) we drove to Albany, and hit this apparently popular club. On its opening night, of all days... I liked it for about 3 minutes, but then my gin and tonic was over and I went outside, to sit on the steps and wait for almost 3 hours until they were done partying. I should have driven myself.

7) I am now a very proud student of jazz guitar! This one place called One Caroline St. had a hip jazz duo one night, and it got me thinking: I have an electric guitar. I have an amp. I don't know how to play an electric guitar. I have tons of free time. Next logical step: weekly sessions with a rather amiable grey-haired man called Joe Gitto (he also plays at One Caroline often). Am loving it.

8) Two weeks ago I went to an Episcopal church and not only did I eat the body and blood of Jesus Christ, but my previous sins were forgiven! Woohoo! I went there twice, the first and the last. Beautiful cathedral, reverent liturgy, lots of candles and smoke, intricate patterns on the Father's robe, but... the sermon, excuse me, exhortation, lasted 5 minutes. I'll be frequenting Hope PCA instead. Praise & Worship (not all the time, but it manages to make me cringe), warm and friendly people, got invited to someone's house on the first day, and the pastor delivers a good exposition. I guess it just makes sense.

9) Still fancy the girl at Borders. She happens to work at another coffeehouse too, run by a lady that attends Hope PCA. Tons of possibilities there. Dreamt about her last night. This is the beginning of another obsession, I know... But she has black hair, folks! I'm helpless.

a brief description of my life

2005-10-01T17:55:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't written letters to anyone yet (despite promising numerous times before my departure), and since both SDB and MDB have more-or-less current blogs, I've decided to try and keep this one updated as well.

I'm writing from my desk at WurldMedia (there's no internet at my house, I'm going to try and survive without it for 10 months), which is where I work, of course. I'm an entry-level server-side Java programmer, and we're developing the first legal peer-to-peer, PeerImpact. Work is so much fun that sometimes I come here during weekends to program a little bit more. It's hard to leave if you haven't finished or at least arrived at a good leaving point: I've already noticed that if it's time to go home and my code isn't working, I'll be in a foul mood all evening! It must be a programmer thing.

Saratoga Springs, NY, where WurldMedia is, seems to be a really hip and happening place. Well, when I arrived here it certainly seemed so. During 6 weeks every summer this place hosts thoroughbred racing, and I got here 3 days before the end of the season. Racing brings a lot of money to this place, obviously. Besides that, there's a very snob college in town (Skidmore) and the students drive Saabs and Audis, so they too have money (this makes my '98 Windstar feel very inadequate). Downtown (which is about 127 feet from where I am right now) is always busy. There seem to be very distinct groups of people here. The college students are either 1) jocks with teflon shirts, rolex, blond spiky gel hair, top button undone, gold around the neck, one silver earring, usually saab or mercedes or bmw, they come in hordes, crowding bar doorways, eyes glued to their female companions, who do not have enough money to buy winter clothes (or any clothes for that matter) and walk around with very tight shirts/skirts/etc., all look the same (like some one working the streets) but I won't describe them. Let's keep this blog PG-rated, kids! 2) less physically gifted (meaning uglier, the jocks are the best-looking crowd) pseudo-goth type, wearing black everything, but still driving a saab, 3) long dreadlocks, tube-like clothing device to keep the dreads in place, baggy shorts, patchouli smell, turquoise earrings, lots of facial hair, lots of hair in general, usually has a guitar handy, plays on the street but still drives a saab, 4) the rest are regular looking people, but still with a "my car is nicer than yours" attitude. Which in my case is a fair assumption.

However, not all is lost. One Caroline St. Bistro has live jazz almost every night (some of it VERY good), and I go there 2 or 3 times a week. There's a Borders and two used book stores. Plus, the girls (it always seems to be girls) working at the coffeeplaces are good-looking, so that helps.

I will continue this at a later date, since talking about food/music makes me hungry. It's about 7pm, and I'm ready for a night out! by myself. Accurate prediction of my itinerary tonight: 1) grocery store, for yoghourt and bread, 2) Borders, to try my luck and maybe meet a girl and get married, or at least buy a Hitchcock, 3) someplace else for espresso and quiet so I can finish The Greenlanders, 4) One Caroline St. for music and melancholy, 5 ) my house 13 minutes away from here, which by the way is quite a place, 3 bedrooms, completely furnished (including TV/DVD player), 2 bottles of wine, and a garden with herbs and a creek for fishing. The river does lull me to sleep.

Ayrshire & Allentown version 0.001

2005-08-18T02:42:00.000-08:00

Bravenet.com (which hosts my work in progress) didn't let me upload a .jar file. So if you want to try out the first version of my amazing game, you'll have to download it and THEN rename it to .jar.

In other words, once you have the file "Ayrshire.txt" on your computer, rename it to "Ayrshire.jar". Then, if you're on Windows a double-click should be sufficient. On Linux type this on the terminal:

java -jar Ayrshire.jar

and you're good to go.

By the way, the game is text-only and is pretty worthless. But it's a start. Explanation:

There are two countries, A and B. Each start with 5 soldiers. During your turn you can attack the neighbouring country. If you do so, choose with how many soldiers you'll be attacking. These will be moved to the front. Then the attack sequence occurs, which mimics A&A action:
1) For every attacking soldier on the front, you get a roll of the dice.
2) If you roll 1 you have hit an enemy soldier.
3) Now the enemy retaliates: for every enemy soldier (on the front or the camp), he gets a roll.
4) If the defender rolls 2 or 1 he kills one of your men.

Next, the attacker can choose to retreat, if there are still any men left on the front.
At the completion of this attacking sequence the attacking country gets reinforcements: 1 per each kill.

The turn is now complete. Next country's up.

The game finishes when one of the countries has no men left, obviously.

For you A&A people, notice I have left out absolutely everything. For goodness sake, now the poor defending soldiers can't shoot back once they're downed! But I had to put a limit to the first version's requirements.

More to come: a graphic client. Yes, if you run Windows you might not see anything... Unless you call it from the command window.

Kishorn Logos

2005-08-17T02:50:00.000-08:00

I finally succumbed to 'net pressure and acquired a blog. Somewhat unnecessary, but an appropriate container for Kishorn Logos, my new one-man software venture. Last week it occurred to me that Settlers of Catan should be written in Java - but alas, there are many such versions out there! Never mind, I'll take on Axis & Allies instead.

I'll start by coding very small game-like applications, as practice for the real thing. Watch this spot for the upcoming Ayrshire & Allentown...

test

1990-01-02T17:17:00.000-09:00