Staticfree Blog

In trying to make my new toy go on my laptop, I ended up breaking PCMCIA stuff. This primarily meant that all the photos that I've taken were stuck on my camera and I couldn't unlazilly put them up. Well, they're up now. Here's some from NoHo and from James's Party.

I went to Haven (err, Manray) last night with James, Katie, Kris, & company. When I got home (thanks to a ride from Kris), I poked my laptop, did some webby stuff, and managed to fall asleep on the couch in front of it. Perhaps that's what staying out late each night, followed by waking up at 07:30 does to me. Nah :-)

Rocky horror is tonight. "I've seen..." "...this movie way too many fucking times." I honestly wonder how many it's been. I generally keep the stubs, but didn't for a particualrly intense period of time when I was going every week. I imagine well over 50.. but how much over?

I often forget how much I like Kula Shaker until I hear them again after a period of non-listening. There're many other bands like that: Guster, U2 (from the 80's), The Cranberries, Nirvana... I often forget about them when mentioning bands I really like, but they've some of my favorite songs to sing along with. I ♥ music.

It's been a fun few days of seeing people, partying and seeing more people. James had his annual cookout early, as he's running off to hike the Appalachian Trail soon. It's always good to see friends/acquaintances that I haven't in a long while. It's so easy to stay in touch these days, yet so easy to lose touch.

As often happens with parties, I met a bunch of nifty new people and got to know a few others a bit better. *waves at paper crystals and metoikos* This summer should prove to be interesting in the sole fact that there're more people I know who will be around in some manner.

I have never before seen a full-spectrum radio jammer, but apparently such a device is employed in various tunnels on the way to Logan Airport. No matter what radio station you're listening to when you go into the tunnel, you end up hearing the transit authority's pre-recorded messages. I'm still debating whether or not it's a good thing.

There are people whose job it is to wear loud, heavy equipment and blow tree junk around. I can't really tell where they're blowing it, but it appears to at least be a pile. This is what we need robots for - so these people can find slightly more meaningful jobs. Which would you rather see as a job title: "Tree Shit Blower" or "Robot Maintenance Crew"?

Before you ask, yes: I am a part of their plan for domination. You should join too, lest you be left to Zion. err, the boring robot-less world. You know you wanna.

I got a job. Thanks to my old MIT Media Lab friend, Pascal, I now have a consulting job at France Telecom for summer work. Not only will I be doing fun R&D work, but it'll count for co-op at RIT as well. It looks like a fun place to work and has some cool people there. It should be muchy fun. Oh, as I'm sure you're curious: the office is not in France, but in Cambridge thankfully.

To celebrate my new job, I decided to get a new toy. I've ben aching for a new PDA for awhile, so I picked up a Palm Tungsten T from Best Buy on my way back from the office. It's got a nice screen and Bluetooth, so it should be fun to play with this summer. Hopefully I can get some more Bluetooth toys and get a nice personal network of gadgets going. It'll be ... interesting ... getting it going in Linux, if at all.

I have been waiting for this for so long - assuming this is true, researchers have created a tree that grows fruit that bears meat. Like, animal flesh. But without the animal. This is exactly what the world needs right now as we don't have replicators yet. Plant one of these suckers next to your tomato plant next to your lettuce next to your pickle plant (heh, maybe by 2005 we'll have engineered salt directly into the cucumbers), grab a bun and some cheese and you're set! Oooh, next up - a cheese plant...

I've been hanging out at UMass with Amethystmoon, Tashari and crew for the past few days. It's so good to be able to hang out in Amherst, as it always feels as though my best friends are here. Plus - it's just fun to play with Sarah C.'s (Tashari's housemate) cats :-)

Amethystmoon made Tashari, Tetron, and me breakfast the other day; today, Sarah C. made Amethystmoon and me breakfast. Friends who enjoy cooking rule. Especially when they enjoy cooking with someone else - Amethystmoon and I made some very tasty cookies the yesterday for one of her parties. These are the reasons I keep escaping from my dad's appt. - I need people, especially those with whom I can relate.

Amethystmoon's party on Saturday was awesome. It reminded me of my weekly "Friday night gatherings" that took place senior year of highschool, except with the addition of a bit of alcohol. There were lots of people, all geeky in some manner, both outgoing and somber. Everyone having a good time, playing on computers, video games, card games, or just chatting. Most parties hosted by Tashari or Amethystmoon are this way, which is good. We as a collective need to make sure these kinds of parties are held over the summer, so people don't lose touch.

Earlier that Saturday, Freya and I met up in Northampton and picked up the pottery we painted before. It was good to see her before she ran off to France (...lucky people who can make it to Europe *grumbleJulie,b1o,Freyagrumble*). Her tea kettle turned out nicely, and my mug turned out OK, though a bit rough around the edges. Some day I'll learn to paint better; someday I'll learn how to draw a straight line without a ruler :-)

Singing in the shower this morning made me come up with a little tune. I decided to try my hand at capturing it in some manner. I considered singing it for a brief moment, but decided that'd be rather ineffective without accompaniment. Lacking any MIDI equipment, I tried SoundTracker. Considering this is the first piece of music I've written - well, ever (ok, so I lied. I'd write tiny little tunes when I was younger, but never really went this far with them) - as well as my first time ever using SoundTracker, I'd consider my venture successful. You can listen to the results in either SoundTracker (xm) or OGG Vorbis. (if you can't play either format, try getting WinAmp 2.9 and playing the OGG Vorbis version) Tell me what you think :-)

Update: I put together another one: chip box 2. Again, leave a comment saying what you think.

Updated update: Mental note: never ever compose music by listening only through tinny laptop speakers. this is what it was supposed to sound like.

Home's in a bag
strapped to my side
goin' with me
for a ride.

9 hours of bus from 11:00, I'm back in Newton at my dad's apartment. The ride is so tedious and cramped, as I carry all my luggage on-board (I don't trust the breakables in my backpack to remain intact while bouncing around in the luggage compartment). Tedious in monotony and lack of a comfortable place to lay my head. I think I'm going to have to go "grandma style" and bring myself a pillow next time. The only good of the trip is that my laptop has oodles o' batteries, and I was able to watch a good 4-5 episodes of TNG. Mmmm, Riker is so bad-ass.

America the beautiful,
except for that part of town
you can't afford to ignore.
Pledge allegiance with your eyes closed,
your fingers crossed
and one foot out the door.

-Kate and Meredith

Someday I will see them in person. Them and so many other talented artists. For that, though, I need a job. Come on, job... come to daddy. You know you wanna.

The skyline was beautiful on fire.
All twisted metal stretching upward,
everything washed in a thin orange haze.
I said, "kiss me, you're beautiful.
These are truly the last days."
You grabbed my hand
and we fell into it,
like a daydream of a fever.

-Godspeed you Black Emperor! - Dead Flag Blues

I like watching the highways pass by from the bus. Seeing the cars leave trails of mist going by. The world is so high-res, so intricate; the subtleties of it all make it beautiful. There's so much beauty in the world, one only needs to look to see it. Or, perhaps the common case: one needs to have temporarily lost the beauty in order to truly see what splendor you've had all along.

Despite the Genesee River being the 2^nd most polluted river in the United States, it can actually be quite pretty. John and I went rollerblading through the park that runs along the river. We had some fun, saw a nifty fire-fighting training center, got some exercise, and took some photos. It's good to get out on nice days.

On that note, I spent most of today outside. It was a beautiful sunny day in Rochester - quite an unusual event - so I made sure to not miss out on such a transient opportunity. My arms are a bit red and the back of my neck has that warm-glowing feeling, but I should be fine. It's been a very long time since I've had skin peel from sun exposure. I've also determined that, despite the wonderful outdoor WiFi coverage at RIT, my laptop's screen was not designed to be able to see in the sun. So, I decided to try something different.

Unicycling is hard. Well I should say, attempting it certainly was. I made a bit of progress in the 2 or so hours I played with Danner's unicycle, but didn't succeed in going anywhere on it. There's a sort of zen you need to achieve: a trust in the unicycle, as you put all your weight on it and let your feet only balance you. I did not achieve said zen, though perhaps shall try again in the future. It seems to be a strangely popular mode of transport at RIT, so I'm sure I can steal some on occasion in order to learn. ->acquire_skill('unicycle riding'); If only it were that easy.

The robot competition went well. After many-an-hour of last-minute tweaking, building and designing, we got our robot mostly working. I was able to get manual-override going nicely, so I could drive the robot around with a USB joystick. The automatic mode doesn't entirely function correctly - it seems to be a bit confused as to how to actually drive the robot. With some luck and testing, we should be able to fix that soon, though. There're some photos online for your photonic, pictoral pleasure.

It's that time again: robot crunch time. We worked on our robot until 1:00 last night and ended the night by getting the treads on and aligned. We strapped on (using electrical tape, of course) some 30Amp 12v batteries, a high-current relay and a "Emergency Off" switch on on a long cord and started driving it around outside. We took photos and videos. The thing's a beast and is definitely prepared to crush all hu-mans.

Today, Andrew and I need to make the robot's brain's go. It's got all its brunt, but without brains, it's just a killer robot that makes a ton of noise. With brains, it's a smart killer robot that makes a ton of noise. Smart noise. We've gotten USB part #1 going - the GPS. Next up is the motor controller controller. We need to make one PWM generator for each motor controller that we use, then write some simple code to interact with them. Once we get the USB chip's programming done we're essentially home-free.

On a more chocolaty note, I've forgotten how much I love hot, malted chocolate. Thankfully, I've a rather full container of it on my shelf in Geekhaüs's cupboard. Ah, I miss Geekhaüs - I went to bed before ¾ of its inhabitants at a wholesome 04:00. Now if only Rochester had a job or two lined up for me, it'd be perfect. Well, almost perfect: I still need to get a car so I can visit some friendly .ma.us friends (especially those at remote .edu's).