2015-10-08 17:42:53-0400 – Updated: 2016-10-28 13:29:24-0400 My Engineered House: User Experience My multi-year involvement with another project has finally drawn to a close. Now I have the luxury of being able to turn my full attention to the next big commitment: building a house. The idea was planted in our heads a couple of years ago but it’s only just begun to take hold in our hearts. We’ve lived in
September 8, 2015
Far From the Madding Crowd
having since spent some time walking in similar places, I am much more impressed at how well Hardy captures them.
July 11, 2015
5th Avenue
…more ominous than inviting: the female figure objectified and faceless, no eyes to see; the sneering herd of male figures leering down on her from above; the passerby on the street looking in. The reflection of other windows. Who gazes down at us unseen from those windows? And I behind my own lens and filter, hidden from view provide the window that constrains your gaze.
May 16, 2015
Cultivating Delight
One of my continuing interests has always been what the physical objects which we create and with which we surround ourselves say about us, both as individuals and as a society. Who does not walk into someone else’s living space and eye the collection of books, or music, or video to help form some opinion of the person who lives there? Our possessions are both archival (what we treasure about
April 5, 2015
Going Light with Backpack or Burro
Before I left on my trip to Patagonia, I came across this delightful little book at Recycled Reads. Written in 1951 by various members of the Sierra Club of San Francisco (the focus audience being people exploring the National Parks of the American West), the editor, David R. Brower, prefaces the sixth printing in 1962 with this message. “More than a decade later (and six printings later, each helped by
March 29, 2015
Journey or Destination
Every photograph is a mini-destination, a momentary stopping point frozen in time. Thoughts on two scenes on Ruta 9 headed toward Puerta Natales, Chile.
March 19, 2015
Patagonia: Monte Almirante Nieto
Early snowfall on Almirante Nieto. We are just about to enter the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine after a long, bumpy, dusty bus ride. Note: “Almirante Nieto was the first mountain climbed in Torres del Paine park in 1937 by German climbers Hans Teufel and Stefan Zuck, of the Bavarian Mountain Club. These brave explorers reached the summit east, by climbing the northeast edge in front of the three Towers
March 15, 2015
Patagonia: Strait of Magellan
The colors in the fading daylight were intense, the land bathed in gold and the choppy waters of the strait a steely, glinting gunmetal gray.
March 8, 2015
Preparing to be Unprepared
Familiarity ossifies experience. We must recalibrate our instruments of perception.
February 22, 2015
Edge of Tomorrow
Starship Troopers meets Groundhogs Day with a bit of Aliens thrown in.
February 21, 2015
The Examined Life
Language: The Examined Life 改 KAI: examine, amelioratePerhaps my fondness for this kanji stems in part from my Catholic upbringing and the cyclical and ongoing practice of examining one’s conscience and making amends for one’s faults. The verb 改める”aratameru” means roughly: revise, alter, rectify, correct, redo, renew, over again, and anew. In short, in order to improve, you must both examine and change. Composition of 改 On the left side