RuffBlog

Delays, delays.

My laptop is still in the shop.

I've basically given up on the idea that I'll be able to wait until it gets fixed, and I can retrieve the work for two courses from the hard drive... both projects are really overdue.

One was a team project. And I had to tell my teammate I was screwed. I am not getting this done before Christmas. He was pissed, and I can't blame him. I said I'd contact the professor to make my own arrangements, and he should do the same.

It's an interesting lesson to accept that as you go through life, you're inevitably going to be perceived as an asshole once in awhile.

Hopefully everything will turn out ok. I definitely feel like I'm handling the dilemma well...

For my other course, I'm trying to re-write from scratch (it's about 10 pages) today, so I can get it out of the way, too.

I did, however, buy a new 20" iMac G5. Panic leads to action, and action leads to The Future Shop Credit Card. And I think it's going to help me get a lot done, much faster.

I'm not carving any turkeys, but...

In honor of American Thanksgiving, I present my list of gratitude for the day:

1. Minuteur, the brilliantly simple timer app for OS X, which for the past week has been helping me get more done using the (10 + 2)*5 LifeHack.

2. My landlord, who stopped by for some measurements and told me I had a very clean apartment. (Although in the process he managed to suggest that all of his tenants were savage scoundrels, therefor I must be a scoundrel, albeit one of the more bearable of them)

3. Kellogs Special K: Vanilla Almond Edition... best Special K I've had in a while.... uh.... moving right along....

4. My Queer Film prof, who interrupted a bizarrely frustrating moment in the hallway to ask if I needed more time to submit my assignment, probably because he knew I wasn't about to ASK him, which would have involved openly admitting I was a tad behind.... (the frustrating moment: i wanted the last coffee crisp bar in the vending machine, but the machine thought it was sold out... "such a tease" i surely mumbled as the LED panel playfully cooed "make another selection".)

5. The "egg lady" in the ceramics studio who, totally out of the blue, asked me if I'd freelance her up a website to sell her stuff... there was something very bizarre about her (in a nice spiritual way... like with this guy from LOST)... she seemed totally fascinating, and I'd be honored to work on her behalf...

6. My teammate for the 3D modeling class, who somehow doesn't seem pissed off that I wanted to take our project in a different route (i.e. we're going to build me furniture for my apartment)...

7. Jay, because he'll be grumpy if I don't include him in the list. And because he mysteriously asked me for my shoe size the other day. And just because....

8. Aveda Singular Notes(tm) Olibanum (Frankincense) Oil... which I bought for no particular reason at all, and is arguably a far more sophisticated form of nasal entertainment than snorting a bottle of jungle juice.

and I'll end because it is soooo time for bed...

9. Erin Silver, who is back up and running a new blog (or so she says... I guess I have to google it, unless she emails me with the new link), who asked me how my day was, which made me realize... it was mighty damn good.

10. There is no #10, except maybe you, because surely there is some unwritten book about writing a blog with an unwritten chapter of how recognition of the reader builds rapport and readership.

Yay for Clay.

Luxology Modo

I spent a lot of my weekend playing with Luxology's Modo... the new version is coming out, and I think I'll buy it later in the term.

I watched the launch video for the new version, a couple tutorials, and video tips... their website really emphasizes the learning aspects, and the quicktime videos are useful.

In DART 380, we're using Form-Z as our main modeling tool... but Modo is just... peaceful. It's so efficient and agile at everything it does... it really makes you feel like you are working with form, not working with a computer.

Technorati Tags: dart, graphics, modo, design, software

eConcordia Stats course...

in my online stats course, you get to pick from a pile of profile icons... i feel so butch doing my homework...

yay for me. vav for you.

i just got an email confirming i'm on this year's board for directors for the vav gallery.

www.vavgallery.com

The SIC Site...

It has been so long since I've really created for the web.... and i'm very out of touch... there are like a million things i should be doing "the easy way" but don't really know how... it's been six or seven years since i really coded pages.... so now i'm like "gee, i guess i don't really know how to use CSS afterall..."

anyway, check the exhibit site out.

Wired 13.03: The Book Stops Here

Wired 13.03: The Book Stops Here: Kind of like the canonical "Gray Goo" article, I think this is worth everybody's read... it's about the history, reality, and future of Wikipedia.

Gender and Design Presentation

I wasn't really happy with it.... I didn't link my concepts into a very coherent topic (it was women.... and gays... and the creative class... and "gendered" products and aesthetics).... but it went pretty well.

You can see the tiny version of the keynote here.

CBC Archives AIDS Footage

I ran across this in the CBC Archives from 1985. A televised Town Hall on AIDS moderated by Barbara Frum. Even in the AIDS Class at Concordia, as the history gets hammered into our heads, it's been hard to really visualize the mass fear of the early years. Yesterday, this random woman solved it for me.

Click to read the rest...