SoC #32

December 22nd, 2009
  • Its seems such a long time since I’ve aimed my camera
  • besides the occasional social snap of a birthday or an out of towner visiting
  • I mean the more artistic, and less practical usage of the time freezing megabit logger
  • that is, my trusty Lumix
  • hoping its like the proverbial bike,  rusty but not forgotten
  • upgraded my google storage space
  • mostly to get the free Eye-fi card
  • but what to do with that 200 gigabytes of space now?
  • after the left brain logical thoughts of archiving, and facilitating wealth accumulation
  • I spent a few minutes exploring Picasa
  • and I’m back at the first thought, I really need to play with that camera more
  • bought some new gadgets, a HDTV for my mom and sis
  • (yeah they got it already and I don’t wrap presents or feel compelled to give them on the day)
  • another larger monitor for my charts and the sporadic movie
  • and the thing that I’ve been waiting the most for…
  • a ebook reader
  • decided on the Sony Touch, it has expandable memory via cards, a touchscreen, renders many formats including PDFs, CHMs, and will be able to download free content off NYPL
  • so no excuses for many more pleasurable reading hours in 2010
  • and importantly I can reuse a lot of shelf space at home, as I gradually manipulate paper books to digital formats
  • it will either be time consuming or costly
  • not much that I have thought of in terms of getting around that…
  • Oh good, Picasa allows different levels of content sharing
  • finished a hutch or shelf for my desk, so got another 42 inches of monitor and computer gadgets space
  • I actually timed that one well
  • the window seat /work bench/ spare bed project got fouled up
  • as I need more lumber, and the mattress arrived already
  • but its hard to get those 2×4s home in a snow storm
  • the 24 inch monitor should arrive in the next 48 hrs and I got the spot ready for it
  • got a good DK photography book out of the library but we’ll see if it lives up to its name
  • “absolutely everything” is pretty bold
  • and is an example of types of books that wouldn’t be as suitable for an eReader
  • since its grey scale and not color and a small screen
  • but very portable and battery lasts for 2 weeks at a time
  • next to search through the freely available content out there
  • and start making a list
  • as well as a virtual book budget as I have put off buying books for quite some time now
  • I’m starting to like the dark stain on the bench 2 projects ago
  • and yes I should note somewhere to not saturate the wood with the stain
  • like I did basically while in a rush to get it done
  • still wondering what to do with Wave, Voice is kinda cool but not utilizing it well yet
  • and I’m itching to get my hands on that Sony reader, and hoping it ships before the long weekend
  • so much to do, so little energy and free time and that shy sun isn’t helping my mood
  • but I’m feeling like we turn a corner here soon, and is it coincidence that the winter solstice is upon us
  • its late and I’m hungry and imagining smells of food
  • but breakfast is a few hours away.

Books, SoC, free , ,

SoC #31

November 15th, 2009
  • As I ran aboard the last Ikea bus leaving NYC, just behind the driver and before he closed the door
  • another passenger proclaimed me “Lucky, I’ve been waiting 30 minutes!”
  • I smiled and shrugged my shoulders and looked for an empty seat
  • went back halfway and my subconscious heuristic chose the skinny asian woman
  • (there’d be more room for my wide shoulders)
  • I asked if it was free, as I pointed to the seat
  • didn’t hear her response but her face indicated approval
  • I sat and caught my breath as I texted my success at catching the last bus
  • as we got out of the tunnel the setting sun lit up her side of the bus and I noticed her outfit
  • typical fall knits and tights and boots, at least that seemed to be what every other woman in NYC was wearing
  • her attractive face with pulled back long hair completed each other well
  • but her posture said stay away, crossed arms and legs…
  • as I contemplated my best Mentalist skills, I weighed
  • the risks of exercising my social skills VS her apparent
  • desire not to be “socialized” with
  • later her demeanor stayed firmly knotted, yet there broke the semblances of a smile on her face as I glanced over
  • I took the mixed signals to mean she was ‘taken’
  • but didn’t see any rings on significant fingers
  • the lack of traffic brought us to Elizabeth  quickly
  • only punctuated by 4 texts and 2 phone calls
  • besides her phone was studded and I couldn’t figure out
  • whether she was much younger than I guessed, or why would
  • a woman have such blingy accouterments with otherwise earthy tones and sensible knits?
  • alas we disembarked before the perplexity allowed me a chance to break the silence
  • and I was in the hunt for wood
  • it reminded me of the reality show on Planet Green
  • I’ve been mildly addicted to
  • they were accumulating firewood for the season
  • 4 groups of people from California to New Jersey
  • retired factory worker with his daughters
  • a computer tech, among others
  • in “Alaska Experiment”
  • a show about how these people will survive a winter in Alaska,
  • roughing it in some cabins and tents, certainly unplugged and in the wild
  • lumber turns out to be cheaper at Ikea than I can get at lumber stores in Manhattan
  • I cruised the aisles and activated memories of short cuts but
  • the Ikea was under renovation so at the second turn past pots and things I started looking at signs
  • I arrived at aisle 35 bin 36 and was surprised at the quality of the bed slats, it was labeled unfinished wood
  • but was much better than what I could pick up closer to home
  • and this was pretty much cut already to size
  • OK, I changed my plans a bit, but saved myself some noise and sawdust
  • now to figure out how much to get…
  • I decided on 3 bunches as well as a few other odds and ends
  • the skill of picking a fast line proved still with me
  • but there was only twine at the packing table
  • i was hoping to make a handle from tape
  • so it took a while to tie it up and fasten a handle
  • as I worked feverishly a woman and two small children walked by
  • she was somewhat out of it, but I didn’t really pause to observe
  • and instead continued to tie and hope to catch a quick bus back home
  • as her older child the daughter pulled a sign off the wall and it came crashing down loudly
  • an Ikea staffer came over quickly and asked her a question but she didn’t respond
  • I thought whats with these woman today who seem to not have a voice?
  • then her boy started to bang a cart into the wall and the table I was using, so I shot her a look of WTF?
  • she just took my stare and let it glance off her
  • not even making any attempt to corral her charges at all
  • I made my final knot and rushed out the door
  • just past the woman I sat next to
  • she was on her studded cell phone and she stared up off into the distance as our paths intersected
  • she towards the returns area
  • me out into the fresh air
  • and then I sprinted with cart towards the bus for the second time
  • and the driver indicated that he had to check if there was any seats left
  • luckily the woman in front of me was waiting for someone and I heaved the stack of lumber into a free spot and boarded the  bus
  • the purple colors were spectacular with the setting sun and the golden rays bouncing off downtown skyscrapers sandwiching the blue waters of the Hudson
  • I thought to myself how timely was my impromptu trip just as we hit tunnel traffic
  • enough time to review my To-Do list and send a couple texts
  • I carried the stuff across the long subway tunnel and my thoughts strayed towards that Alaska Show again
  • I was carrying 30 pounds of lumber to make some furniture
  • and they were logging and splitting firewood to the tune of 9,000 pounds to survive the winter
  • I sweated a new understanding of their predicament
  • just got snookered on a 4x trade, but it was only for dimes
  • and  I realize that 2 monitors are not enough for all that I want to do
  • so the new furniture I’m building which will be part custom bed, window seat, and large work surface with plenty of storage underneath
  • should allow me a spot closer to my multi monitor setup
  • and I did de clutter about 100 pounds this weekend
  • despite the 30 more I brought home.

SoC , , ,

SoC #30

October 30th, 2009
  • How strange to hunger for some pure fiction reading as
  • I usually devour anything but that
  • yet nothing yields true in my quest to sate my mental appetite
  • even some of the Young Adult books borrowed for others
  • and ebooks is similarly lacking despite the many titles that come up
  • downloading Karmic Koala now, just 17 more minutes
  • but its too late to burn and reboot now
  • weekend you can’t come soon enough!
  • just one more day for the man
  • then two for me and mine
  • found a couple things cleaning, and thought of two things I can’t find
  • with all the titles in my home, not finding something to read for a few minutes before turning in is well
  • very unsatisfying to say the least
  • I go through the motions but don’t put enough of myself into those present moments so
  • some workouts and other exercises seem hollow
  • but better than not doing them
  • and certainly better than putting thoughts energy and time into negatives
  • one thing to slide trying to hold fast quite another to just run in the wrong direction
  • trying to build some momentum to slingshot around
  • the dark winter months
  • and emerge in the spring ready
  • rather than have to gather strength then and start from scratch
  • but running in winter is its own special discipline
  • dark and cold, dark and cold, step by step but what a way to start the days
  • with sunrises and serotonin storms in the brain, and those late afternoon lulls are weakening as my body and spirit grows stronger
  • but such noble habits are fragile and have to maintain the string
  • Seinfeldian chains and such
  • Run on S’s and T’s, short of that at least 3 days a week weather permitting mornings
  • that download meter lies as its still saying 17 minutes now
  • but maybe I’m in the dark territory of my home WiFi
  • and those packets keep colliding
  • an old game appeared in the mail from an ebay auction that thoroughly
  • entertained us a few years ago (and promptly the disk hid itself thereafter)
  • hoping its still fun, but not as addicting as it was those 100+ hrs the two last weeks of 2004
  • maybe I hook up the projector and we can play it on the large screen with the speakers cranked
  • for the full effect but patience for the right time
  • it would hardly fit into the schedule now with HW and world series but
  • there isn’t a game tomorrow night…
  • it could even be an inventive incentive to get HW done early for some gaming fun
  • I’d trade game time for TV time but
  • that Nova episode on Darwin teeters precariously on the edge of extinction on my DVR
  • and it behaves much better when its only 80% gorged with my TV programs
  • not much more frustrating than a weeks worth of shows recorded missing the last few minutes of each
  • so there will be blood, a disgorging of shows
  • and I finally found something interesting to browse
  • a book at ebook.nypl about influential characters that never lived
  • or fictional people that have influenced us like
  • the Marlboro Man to mickey mouse to Spock, now
  • morphing those guys together surely would make for a fun dance partner.

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Lucidity

October 29th, 2009

Beautiful idea

Momentous clarity astounds

The bloom whithers

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SoC # 29

October 29th, 2009
  • That Yankee game was a bummer in both senses that they lost and it wasn’t so enjoyable to watch
  • wanted to go for a run but no breaks in the rain
  • still its great to have the local team in the big show this year
  • have to make time to try that vietnamese sandwich (bahn mi?) soon
  • flipping thru a lifetime fitness book and it seemed to offer nothing new on first glance but
  • further reading has chanced upon a couple new ways to look at things
  • it seems to be geared towards fitness professionals and I’m thinking if that profession
  • could have a sea change like say meterologists have had in the last decade
  • what a momentous turn society could take in this next generation
  • but the stats are agin’ us with over 60% fat or obese
  • yet if many people chose to balance out their lives with some stress busting exercise
  • say over the next 2-3 years
  • which I believe will be quite taxing on our nerves
  • as the economy see saws a bit
  • and we won’t know to be optimistic at just the wrong times and
  • hopes will be dashed as things seem to be recovering and its safe to wade out into the deep areas of the economic waters again
  • experimenting with dawn simulation and white and blue lights on a timer
  • its supposed to ward off SAD but sitting in front of lights seems like such a bore if you can’t fit in some other activity
  • so with dawn simulation I’ve got a timer and some LEDs fashioned together to light up the bed area about 30 minutes before my alarm goes off
  • it does seem to work, I awake better and sometimes I don’t need the alarm
  • but I have it aimed up and reflected back down on me off the ceiling so that its not so intense, but after another week or so
  • I might turn it around and see how shining directly feels
  • funny how its something from a 1960’s spy movie that I found so cool as a kid
  • and now I get to play with it
  • the jet setting, woman in each port, world saving lifestyle could be cool to live for a few months too
  • but that’s hollywood
  • NYC is a pretty good approximation of the world, but without airport delays
  • and we get most of the climates
  • I gave a girl a christmas present today as
  • I am notorious for present giving without temporal relevance
  • or in other words time and dates are such an inconvenience when you discover a great present
  • and in the other cases you get inundated with presents anyhow on your birthday, holidays, etc anyway
  • and the lack of a present then is nothing compared to the addition of a random present on say any given Wednesday in October
  • and its the type of present that lets her create presents for others
  • so some advance timing before christmas works out too
  • hmm is that Euro turning down or is it gonna break upwards?
  • that’s what makes it so interesting – it takes on a personality for a while
  • then morphs into something else for a while
  • or sometimes runs along in one direction for months
  • missed a great move this week as work intrudes on my focus
  • but there’s always another train leaving the station
  • just that that train produced 150% in the span of  a lunchtime
  • liked Peaceful Warrior, both the book and the movie
  • what was it again? Mystery, humor, and change…
  • reading a couple books I bought a while ago but neglected when life got busy
  • one on kaizen, and another on mindfulness
  • and realizing I really need to write down things more…
  • as I had one of those moments when seemingly disparate things came together in
  • a true moment of clarity
  • well here’s to new trade setups, meeting some new and interesting people, letting go of the need to control the future, and maybe some natural sunlight tomorrow
  • but the blue dawn comes up right on schedule over my bed now.

Blended Living , ,

SoC #28

October 2nd, 2009
  • Its cold and late and dark and many things seem out of sorts
  • not simply the physical but others
  • in my newly reorganized bedroom I replugged in my DVD recorder
  • and haven’t updated the clock so the blinking 12:00 beckons
  • by the second and the rational side of me knows that its just another
  • chronological display and I just haven’t found my way to do it and the spare 5 minutes to punch in the correct time
  • but its like a symbol for how things are lately
  • it could just take a few minutes but its not really urgent
  • so let it blink…
  • its little visual addition to the otherwise dark room dimly lit by the glow of a small netbook is just enough to be noticed on my periphery
  • I wrongly over react and try to reign in my awareness
  • to pull in my antenna so as to not notice the incessant calling of noon or midnight but
  • such little things can teach us to narrow our view like when our brains don’t get enough oxygen
  • and the tunnel starts to cave in on us
  • except this is our attention to the here and now
  • and contributes greatly to the enjoyment of life
  • or lack thereof
  • such little acts of attention towards ourselves and others
  • tip our emotions between those that add to our energy
  • and those that tear it down
  • I wish to have the words and deeds that could enlighten my comrades in their harsh times
  • my thoughts that go in and out with each of my slow even breaths
  • perhaps they can fill in the blank thats in my little packet of intention with the words or thoughts
  • or feelings that would envelop them like a warm blanket
  • a spiritual hug if you will
  • that says it will be OK
  • and its just a blinking light.

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SoC #27

September 22nd, 2009
  • its strange to wish for somethings and have them appear so regularly sometimes
  • it makes you think that you should have been more ambitious
  • I envisioned scrap wood and acrylic pieces and they appeared on my walks
  • that weekly metrocard that appeared when my legs got tired
  • the exact piece of plywood I’m using now as a base for a lightbox
  • perhaps I should be more selective in my visions
  • that white translucent # 2447 plexglass arrived a day early and I cut and assembled the
  • back and sides of the lightbox – I wish I could cut a straighter line
  • with the jigsaw, but given the limited woodworking projects so far
  • its not that bad, or the sander straightens what the jigsaw wrought
  • its fun to make something that involves LEDS, acrylic and wood working
  • which really is a foundation for future projects and
  • I don’t know if this something new and can’t be bought elsewhere
  • or if it will in the end prove to be something that just seemed a great idea
  • still as lightboxes go, this will be fairly cheap compared to pre mades
  • next steps are to check spacing and quantity of flat white LEDs and to figure
  • out how to assemble  them – either use PCBs or just connect them
  • directly to the plywood base somehow
  • picked up a shop vac that will connect somehow to the lightbox for vacuuming away
  • tiny glass and acrylic dust which is harmful if breathed
  • which reminds me I didn’t pick up masks
  • the Euro just woke up and in typical 6AM Greenwich fashion but there
  • appears to be resistance around 1.4730
  • which reminds me there are a few AHK projects I wanted to do on the computer
  • that got hip checked out of the way by the woodworking projects
  • and somehow I want to fit in some running and Yoga now
  • that I rearranged and have more floor space
  • but how to blend all this into a week and still get 7 hrs sleep a night?
  • oh, there she blows!  - Euro breaking out above resistance
  • bouncing off the 10 daily SMA today
  • FOMC is this week, I doubt there will be any changes for the next few months
  • but the tone could send a jittery market a flutter
  • falling back from 1.4745 now, but it looks like it will travel all the way up to the 4hr UBB
  • that is the Upper Bollinger Band around 1.4755
  • now to figure out how to fit in that running, so that the sleeping is better, so I have more energy
  • so that I can focus better, and trade more actively, so that I can have more time…
  • if it wasn’t so late I’d reach for the camera and snap a few shots of the unbuilt lightbox
  • figure out if the minute chart is resetting to bounce up here while the stochastics is running down below 20
  • but I think its enough for today.

Blended Living, SoC, free , , ,

SoC #26

September 17th, 2009
  • the twilight run in Central Park tested my focus which was not that sharp today
  • like a dull ache longing for crisper times
  • of a mental edge that cut through crap so well
  • but I was mildly amazed at my ability to hold a serene thought and
  • allow my body to work out its kinks and let
  • the motor go on for a while longer than
  • some days when my mind (or ego) can’t sustain the pace and it yells louder or just loud enough
  • so that my legs slow down to a walk
  • however tonight fueled by many runners and 64F weather and that
  • fun run coming up in 36 hours was just enough to get me
  • down by the lake in good time and just a couple pauses
  • soon after my legs propelled me automatically and minutes later
  • my left thigh seized like an engine that lost valve oil
  • but just for a moment as a couple stretches and yoga like deep breathes
  • flowed some necessary body ingredients to sore areas
  • playing with my new toys
  • I don’t doubt that neighbors are wondering if a dentist has moved in their midsts
  • so I need to think about soundproofing a bit
  • or relegate my craft activities to the locked bathroom until
  • I do figure out something
  • “easy glass etching” seems an oxymoron but it isn’t the first such title I’ve gotten out of the library
  • I wonder if that cheap Ikea glass stuff is worth testing some etching on
  • and I remind myself I need to order facemasks
  • before I read about glass dust dangers and scare myself out of that side of the hobby
  • but that light box/table I’m gonna make should ameliorate dust enough
  • so that I won’t obsess about it
  • still I need to read and educate myself some more and practice on cheaper and less toxic acrylic first
  • the forex chart shows a nice trade I missed while showering
  • and the LED I implanted into a yellow ping pong ball makes a nice light
  • no glare, bright enough and it looks like a bulb albeit
  • with two little thin wire legs coming out of it
  • maybe I should take a marker and anthropomorphisize it somehow
  • or maybe I’m just a bit lightheaded after running about 6-7 miles tonight
  • my Cstream wanders into a neat short Kafka-esque story of an inventor with lots of LEDs and ping pong balls
  • but perhaps with a happy ending
  • and I wonder if there is such a thing as childrens pop up book with LEDs used in an imaginative way to “hi-lite” the story
  • or in some other way educate and involve the reader enough
  • to have them interact so that they finish the circuit
  • in order to complete the multi-ending story
  • that last idea has enough ‘oomph’ to think about more
  • but alas we do live in such a virtual society already and would
  • such a blended concept take hold?
  • maybe there is some magic in taking the old and new and creating something just a little different
  • that Euro is taking off into 1.47xx land
  • as the daily chart looks like its about to climb K2
  • with a short stint at base 1
  • the 4 hour charts show hesitation at 1.4730 ish but
  • as usual 6am greenwich time has some early Euro bull risers
  • will it linger in the 1.48 area and come back down with the upcoming US stock market pullback?
  • go with the trend, go with the trend
  • I need to make that mantra into a song
  • is there a word that means “song-ify”?
  • the active voice is so much more well active
  • me thinks I have drained that last bit of caffeinated adrenaline out of me
  • but a quick glance at the etching book before ping pong out.

Blended Living, SoC, frugal fun, run , ,

SoC #25

September 16th, 2009
  • it bugs me that I haven’t been adding photos here as much as I imagined
  • but I am pleased about the pace of many other hobbies
  • and the confluence of some
  • excited about a light box I’m designed in my head
  • and should really capture more ideas onto paper or in the computer
  • before some ideas fall off the ends of my mind
  • white plexiglass #2447 is what is used for lightboxes or X-Ray viewers
  • or light installations which is funny how I found out
  • as I wondered about what the best way to search that was
  • as I ‘gestured’ by accidnet on my laptop’s touch panel and it jumped to the bottom of an Ebay listing and there it was
  • a few clicks later ordering a piece of #2447 sized to the plywood I picked up earlier last week
  • and hoping that a 16 x 19 inch lightbox is sufficient for my needs and that
  • 1/8th inch plexiglass will be thick enough
  • and calculating whether I’ll need to glue it down
  • or allow it to float there
  • and how many bright white LEDs and what spacing will be best to illuminate the box
  • yet not have hot and cold spots
  • and trying to figure out how to attach some kind of netting or plastic to keep dust from flying out when etching, or other dremel like activities
  • and sizing shop vacs
  • and thinking about angles for other lights but not introduce glare onto clear arylic
  • then the Cstream thinks about other projects made do-able by the perfect lightbox with
  • a debris vacuum, and under and over lighting, and raised edges, and some kind of plastic netting to keep dust down.

Blended Living, SoC, frugal fun , ,

SoC # 24

September 15th, 2009
  • rearranged my laptop stand and monitor in my bedroom and its not quite right yet
  • which feels much like everything lately
  • not inertia but a step sideways perhaps to a new perspective
  • but not quite comfortable or feeling better yet
  • was a sports milestones weekend as
  • Jeter eclipsed the Yankee hit record
  • Serena yelled her way out of the semifinals
  • last second scoring in the Broncos included a tip and lucky TD catch
  • Federer looked like he was master in command only
  • to be surpassed himself the next day
  • which leaves me wondering how to feel about it as
  • I admired his fitness and strategy and mental fortitude
  • only to read it online that he lost after I gave up watching the second set thinking
  • that it was all but over and tired of
  • watching the Federer vise close in on his opponents
  • now I wish I recorded the match
  • but that is how chance is sometimes… like
  • the friend that almost ran into me with his car turning on 86th street
  • as I stared up at my fantasy home
  • contemplating the staggering sums of money to fulfill that dream
  • and wondering why I stopped running regularly this summer suddenly
  • but have to concede to the idea of the fun run being the start of my fall running season
  • rather than the goal at the end
  • the news lately accentuates a sense of things not being quite right
  • with the Yale student’s latest creating doubt about many things
  • yet this is the precise moment to renew faiths and beliefs
  • but the mind wanders as I try to exercise some mind control
  • my own mindfulness that is, not over someone else while
  • I fold clothes but the touch of cotton
  • and the smell of detergent and sights of colors isn’t
  • enough to keep me here and now without struggle
  • still the clothes are folded sooner than expected and further down
  • my stream I think about the Broke American whom I
  • know only as an avatar in a forum
  • but his blog about consumerism and addictions and weight loss
  • clues me into how much he is trying to do and all at once
  • the setting sun looked marvelous from my neighbors roof deck
  • as we consumed some moderately priced beer from Whole Foods
  • and we spoke of many varied things and it struck me that I felt so strongly
  • that our near future, that is the next few years will test all of us
  • yet things will come out OK as I remain
  • on the optimistic side of realism
  • but many events do trouble me.

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