Yaddo Photos

As promised, here are the photos taken at Yaddo. See the last post for details.

Yaddo 2008

Yesterday I dropped my father off at Yaddo, an artist’s colony in Saratoga Springs, NY. In addition to being located on a beautiful green estate, the place has some pretty great history. It was originally a mansion owned by Spencer Trask in the late 19th century. He was one of Thomas Edison’s financial backers, so the mansion is pretty incredible in terms of furnishings. What’s really intriguing, however, is the Trask family’s history. Spencer and his wife Katrina had four children. At one point, Katrina had tuberculosis, and it was thought she would not survive. The children were brought in to see her on her death bed. Two of them caught TB and subsequently died. Katrina made a full recovery. Another of their children drowned in the pond, and the fourth perished in some other tragic manner, the nature of which I’m not quite certain. Katrina and Spencer were left childless, and on New Year’s Eve in 1909, Spencer was shaving with a straight razor on a train to New York, when the train was rear-ended by another train, causing him to cut his own throat with the razor. Katrina later suffered several heart attacks, but survived. She then had some sort of vision or premonition that she should turn the estate into an artists’ colony, which she did.
I took a bunch if photos while I was there, of the mansion, and of my father’s living/working space. Gallery to follow.

Photos: Village Harmony Teen Residential Session Concert, Ashfield MA

Final touches

I’ve just finished uploading the photo galleries for the Lego Car of Awesomeness, as well as migrating the blog posts over from the old system. This, I think, puts the final touches on the site. I’m also working on getting together a group of people to blog.

We're live!

The transition to WordPress Mu is now complete. Finally, I can edit my website without having to be at my home computer. I’m still fine-tuning some things, so expect some strange things to happen every so often. Also, I haven’t yet put up the galleries for the Lego Car of Awesomeness yet. They should be up soon, along with the entries from the old blog and Plog.

Using the WordPress client for the iPhone, I am now able to blog from anywhere. This means that the blog page will get a lot more interesting very soon.

IPWNAGE!

Well, I got the iPhone. I don’t know if I can describe the elation. Suffice it to say, it is everything I expected, and more. The more consists of a lightsaber program, and a virtual beer program. I will, however, enclose herein a copy of the log that myself, Will, and our friend Brianne took while camping out on Thursday night / Friday morning.

Here is “The Log”:
Reporting: Snakes, The Incredible Zulk, The Silent One.

TSO, 0015 hours, 140 Main Street 01060: So far, all is quiet on the Northampton front. There are three others here, origin and destination unknown. They do not appear hostile. Snakes and myself were here from 1800 hours onwards. MRE at 1815 hours. From then until approximately 2000 hours, we worked on Snakes’ and my websites, and other such activities. Reinforcements arrived at approximately 2000 hours. At the moment, the three of us have assumed our defensive positions, and are holed up for the wait. Further bulletins as the morning progresses. I’m handing the helm over to Snakes.

S, 00:26: Operative Garbus has return. We are considering gaming, but are probably going to remain conversing. I can hear the transformer in the light post behind my head. G has been talking of and interesting e-mailing experience with Professor ‘Li.

00:33 Eban has join our camp. His region of origin is Warwick. TIZ and G are making and expedition to 7/11: chocolate.

00:41 TSO here. The two foreign operatives have returned. We have learned from Eban (if that is indeed his name) that only the other male operative is purchasing an iPhone. We are attempting to analyze the frequency of the transformer hum formerly described by Snakes.

00:47 TSO. Eban has begun doing pushups. Approximately 20. The unknown male operative is speaking of his dislike for shingling roofs.

0100 TSO: We have determined the frequency to be 237 Hz. We determined this using PD.

0122 TSO: We are preparing to withstand the cold. Currently it is 288.71 K, and dropping. Reports indicate it may go down as far as 284.26 K.

0158 TSO: TIZ and I have returned from an expedition to 7-11 for bathroom purposes. We also obtained free Slurpees, as it is Free Slurpee Day, and purchased aluminum straws. We determined that music can be played by drumming on various metal objects in our immediate environment. The most memorable part of the expedition was when a drunk black man asked me what the “little hat” I was wearing was. I proceeded to explain the concept of humility before and respect of G-d. He seemed interested, if somewhat out of it. Taken in total, the operation was a success.

0221 TSO: We have narrowly escaped death or a severe dusting. Located as we were by the curb on Main Street, we were forced to rapidly relocate when the street sweeper drove through. Will was off urinating in a cracked-out alleyway, so we all had to pull extra weight to make up for his absence.

0314 TSO: An episode of the highest order of excitement has occurred. We stole Haymarket’s wireless bandwidth to download the newest version of iTunes, 7.7. The transfer ran sometimes as fast as 528 KB/sec, and incurred much exclamation.

0347 TIZ: Our crew is mindlessly idling on the street, having realized that the power on our computing device is running low. Several minutes ago, the gang completed a futile search for electric power. Unfortunately, we were not successful in our pursuit and now we suffer with the crippling boredom that comes with lack of internet capabilities and computing power. TSO has begun a chess match with new-found friend Eben. Will is approaching sleep. I sit here, wide awake, eating Nerds. Our conversations have reached a point of much inanity.

0517 TSO: A relatively uneventful several hours, punctuated by bathroom endeavors and encounters with the police. TOS and TIZ, when returning from a Dunkin Donuts bathroom run, were faced with the difficult task of carrying out a pleasant passing conversation with a narcotic dependent individual. This feat accomplished , they returned unscathed to Mission Control, where they then assisted in the transition to the storefront-sitting phase, lining the opposite of the storefront with chairs to establish a queue. Further updates on the status of this phase to follow.

0554 S: Breakfast was just had, location – Bruegger’s. TSO and I incorporated lox into our selections, while TIZ decided upon a simple raisin bagel. Our device of documentation is currently charging. The App Store looks preeminent. We all took advantage of facilities. The line is remaining mellow, but we will return soon.

0623 TSO: We have returned from Bruegger’s, after securing S’ camera, again encountering the unconscious narcotic-dependent populace. Photos will commence. After being interviewed by a reporter from MassLive (who will be receiving a copy of this log), S has reinstalled his polymer contact refractors, as the sun is becoming prevalent. We may attempt a time-lapse capture of the registration process at 0800, with TIZ supervising the photodigital capture equipment.

0713 TSO: Traffic and daily life is picking up here. I have just realized why today is free Slurpee day at 7-11. It is because today’s date is 7/11.

0746 TSO: I have finished the Large Mocha I purchased from Haymarket 12 hours ago. We are going to start making preparations for the registration procedure and photodocumentation. TIZ will be photodocumenting the registration process as S and I walk through it.

1018 S: It is severely challenging to think about anything not iPhone.

"Flip-flop"? Yea, say I.

This makes the second election in a row where a nominee has been accused of being a “flip-flop”. Stepping outside of my personal political views, I think it makes sense to support someone whose opinions change. History (and common sense) show that when someone refuses to change their opinion in the face of overwhelming evidence, the consequences are dire. By accusing someone of being a “flip-flop” you are essentially saying “Your beliefs have changed over time, therefore they are not valid”, when we should really be commending them for changing what they think. It shows that they are open-minded, and willing to consider all options, rather than desirous of pursuing their own personal agenda at all costs. That’s the sort of person who should be leading our country. Vote 2008!

iPhone Pwnage

Will Szal and I (of Lego Car of Awesomeness fame) will be purchasing iPhones on Friday morning when they are released. To this effect, we are camping out in front of the AT&T store on Thursday night to get in line. Lyle (also of the Awesomeness crew) may be joining us, although he’s not buying a phone himself. Will has a laptop, so I may try to figure out a way to blog while I’m there. Either way, it will be AWESOME.

Blog reorganization

I’ve reorganized the blog so that the entries pertaining to the Lego Car of Awesomeness are now contained in a separate blog in that project’s page. This should make it easier to follow the progress of the car, and easier to ignore it if you don’t care.

Independence Day

Here’s to the casting off of tyrants, whether foreign or domestic! Vote 2008!

Sex and the City

Now I’m old enough to legally see the movie. Pretty unexciting. The problem with 17 is that there aren’t any new priveleges you gain except for being able to see R-rated movies. And I could already do that, because no one cares. But it’s exciting anyway. Happy birthday to me.

And then there were 4

I’ve been idolizing Eddie Izzard and dreaming of seeing him for about five years. Considering how much I’d built up my expectations for the show last night, it would have been difficult for me to enjoy it. That being said, my expectations were wholly exceeded. Eddie Izzard is, and was last night, the funniest human being alive, as I said in my last post. Anyone who has a chance should see this latest “Stripped” tour. There are just enough references to other jokes to make it funny and engaging, but not so many that it seems like he’s recycling material. Overall, he was amazing.
The four best shows I’ve seen, in no particular order, are:
•Eddie Izzard
•James Brown
•They Might Be Giants
•Toots and the Maytals

Eddie Izzard

Well, tomorrow I go to see Eddie Izzard in Boston. For the unenlightened among you, Eddie Izzard is a British transvestite stand-up comedian, possibly one of the funniest humans alive. This looks to be an epic night.

And then there were 3

Toots and the Maytals has taken its rightful place among the best shows I’ve ever seen. There are now three, the other two being James Brown and They Might Be Giants. And the openers – Fear Nuttin’ Band – were amazing! They have an album coming out sometime soon I think, and I encourage all of you to buy it. Sort of a blend of hardcore, reggae, and rap; incredibly tight and very loud. Toots and the Maytals were somewhat more relaxed, as was the audience (which might have had something to do with how much more of the audience was high once Toots came on). Regardless, the show was incredible, and I didn’t get out until after midnight. A most enjoyable evening all around, and extremely memorable.

I feel obliged to mention…

…that I’m going to see Toots and the Maytals tonight. I am PUMPED!

New site

Hooray! It’s a new website! Designed with RapidWeaver (which is AWESOME), this site will be a lot easier to maintain and update, and hopefully easier for you to use. Still in progress, please let me know using the contact form if you’ve got comments.