Okay, suppose you have a car catapult, fortuitously positioned near a large cliff, a few disposable cars and, lets see, what else? Oh yeah, some heavy artillery. Yeah, that sounds like a good afternoons fun.
UC Berkeley biologist Robert Full describes his and other’s research into how feet work in nature so that they can build a better robot. And maybe in time improve on nature itself.
TheLookAndSoundOfPerfect.com : I can’t tell, is this an add for HD-DVD or Flash video?
If you’re a doomsday lovin fool like myself then there’s a show coming to the NationalGeographic Channel on Thursday, February 14th called 6 Degrees.
Even if you miss the show the preview videos are good to watch.
David Pogue of the New York Times reviews Microsoft OS X version 2 for PCs . . . more commonly known as Vista.
Here is a roughly chronological list of the events of mine and Jill’s moving experience to Crestline, California.
It all starts in late 2007 when Jill and I decide to move to the mountains outside of Los Angeles to be closer to our families. It’s a bit of a rush to move, and what complicates matters is that we don’t have a place to move into. Fortunately, our local real estate agent has a vacation cabin that she is willing to rent to us cheap, because it’s usually unoccupied during the winter months anyway.
We drive down the coast
The final packing begins on December 28th, after my last day at Smilebox.com. I picked up a 6×10 Uhaul trailer and loaded it to the roof. We took off on December 31st and made it just a few miles down I-5 before we stopped to spend the night in a shit-hole town near Long View, Washington.
I was sound asleep when the New Year rolled in. I think Jill was reading a book.
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Day Two comes and the weather is a bit nasty as we make it down US 101 along the Oregon coast. Jill found a great little hotel in Newport, right on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the stormy Pacific. The problem was that the entrance to the hotel was far too steep for me to drive the Pathfinder up while hauling a Uhaul trailer.
Unfortunately, one of the owners suggested we could park at a vacant house next door. I drive down a few hundred feet and turn into the driveway. Problem: there is not enough room for me to turn around and I end up getting stuck in their gravel driveway. (Note: getting Uhauls stuck becomes a theme of this adventure. )
Uhaul fun, part one
So me and this guy work together to get the trailer turned around, and I unhook the Pathfinder and drive back to the hotel. Now I’m a bit edgy because I have no idea how I’m going to get that trailer out of the driveway. But, as fortune would have it, the guy who suggested I park there in the first place goes down early the next morning. He kindly uses his truck to pull the trailer out and down to a nice paved and flat storage area not far away.
Jill and I ended up staying at the hotel for 3 nights, just relaxing. During this time one of the worst Pacific storms in years is coming ashore. We sat by the fireplace and watched the crashing waves.
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After resting up we drive on down the coast a bit further to Bandon and stay in a place for two nights with an even better sea stacks-type view.
After this stop we drive pretty long days to get to LA. This is where the fun really begins.
The Crestline vacation cabin
I unloaded the Uhaul trailer into a storage unit down in San Bernardino and we take just the essentials, computers, desks, and such, up to the cabin we’re staying in up in Crestline.
Remember that storm that I mentioned earlier? Well, it didn’t just hit Oregon. It covered the entire coast and dumped about 2 feet of snow in Crestline. By the time we get there the roads are plowed and clear but no one had been to the cabin yet to clear a path.
Unfortunately, someone had stolen the snow shovel, and the only thing I had to use was a little iron shovel that’s supposed to be for the fireplace. It doesn’t take long to break that flimsy little thing. I end up on my knees shoveling icy snow off the steps with this tiny utensil so that I can carry our electronics into the cabin.
The next day the cable guy comes out and installs cable Internet access so that Jill and I can work. That much goes well and after a few weeks we are just about caught up with work when another big storm comes through. This one dumps more snow and knocks out the power. Not just to our house. Not just to the neighborhood. But to the entire mountain top community.
No power, no heat
We spend the night under every blanket in the cabin as the temperature drops down near freezing. The next day - Friday - we head down to Jill’s parents house in San Diego to relax in a warmer climate while they work on getting the power restored.
By Sunday, I’m pretty sure they have the power back on, so we head back up to the cabin. I was wrong. The power is still out. There’s nothing to do but get back in bed under all the blankets and hope the power comes back on soon.
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Around 10 AM on Monday the power finally comes back on. And then goes out. And then comes back on. And so on. For days.
Now Jill and I are behind on our work again but finally the power is back on for good and the weather is warm. And to top things off, we have found a permanent place to move into starting February 1st. All good news!
Looking for rentals - back and forth at the whims of fate
( Note: it’s a bit stressful to get bounced between choices. )
A stuck truck - Uhaul fun, part two
The week leading up to our move has great weather. The snow is almost all melted. Roads clear. Here we go.
Day one we move everything from the cabin over to our house. One little problem is that the owner hasn’t gotten everything out of the house yet. So we have a mixture of our furniture and his cluttering up the house. The house is also dirty and swimming in spiders. Not a good start.
Day two of the moving and I go down to San Bernardino and rent a Uhaul truck to bring the rest of our stuff up from storage. This is going to be a quick move. I’ll load up the truck, haul it up the mountain with all the big stuff that won’t fit in the Pathfinder, unload real quick and head back down. One day and get it over with.
Once I get the Uhaul truck unloaded I start to drive back up the access road. No go. The tires just spin on the wet asphalt. I should mention that our access road is as steep as a road can be and still get paved. The Uhaul just doesn’t have the traction on the wet asphalt to get up the hill.
Okay, so I’ll just wait till the next day and get down to San Bernardino to pick up the Pathfinder. I’m sure that I can use it to help pull the Uhaul up the road.
Next morning I get up. Look outside and there’s a fresh 8 inches of snow on the ground. I’m not going anywhere!
I start the day by shoveling a path up to the top of the hill. It’s only about 300 feet or so. There’s not much else I can do. It snows some more and I shovel some more. Repeat all day, fall into bed exhausted.
 The path here at the bottom leads beside the Uhaul. The Uhaul truck is just out of frame to the right. |
The next day I get a ride down to San Bernardino to bring the Pathfinder back. At least we will finally have transportation.
It turns out I can only get the Pathfinder about 1/4 of the way down the access road. I’ll have to carry things down the rest of the way. I counted 45 trips - give or take a few. At least it’s good exercise.
Still stuck and now one handed
After shoveling all this snow I’ve injured my right wrist. At first it’s just tender and difficult to grasp and twist things. But after another day it becomes debilitating. But, work must go on so I’m still out there shoveling, carrying and making it worse and worse by the day.
Finally I get a guy to come out with a small tractor with rubber treads to clear away enough snow to get the Uhaul truck out. After he clears away most of the snow we realize that there’s no way he can pull the truck out until the next day when the remainder of the ice/snow melts.
The next day the owner of the house we are renting shows up to get his stuff out of here. He’s a retired man and not used to the 5000 + foot altitude here so I help him out - even though it’s killing my wrist.
He realizes that it’s going to take days to get everything out with his small little trailer and get his furniture down the mountain. But then we have an idea. Why not load it all in the Uhaul? The extra weight will help it get better traction going up the hill. When the guy shows up with his tractor we’ll zip right no out of here.
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Well, the guy with the tractor shows up with just his truck. He thinks he can get me out with that so we hook up and give it a try.
The extra weight in the Uhaul definitely helps. I can get much further up the hill than before. The problem: the guy trying to pull me can’t get out himself. Now he’s stuck. His wheelbase is much wider and he’s spinning in the snow.
So I run up the hill, back the Pathfinder down and hook on.
Zip, right up the hill we go. No problem - except that I tied onto his crash bar and ripped the hell out of it. Whoops! He said he has a welder and stuff to fix it, no worries. I feel bad that he’s the one who got his truck stuck.
Now I back down with the Pathfinder and hook up to try and pull the Uhaul out. Mind you that we have to clear a bunch of snow again because the guy with the truck has made a mess out of our clean path up the hill. I take more Ibuprofen and grit my teeth.
 This is the final leg to the house. The Uhaul truck is just out of frame to the right. |
After injuring my wrist even more I start pulling the Uhaul up with the Pathfinder. Zip, up and out, no problem. When I get to the top the guy driving - the guy who owns the house we’re moving into - says, “You know, I had the emergency break on all the way up.”
The Pathfinder is a stud. That much is certain.
Moved in at last and Uhaul-free
Now we have all the stuff that’s supposed to be in the house here. And everything that’s not supposed to be here is finally gone. The Uhaul truck was returned 6 days late but at least it’s done. Now we can get down to organizing, and putting things together. The fun part of the move.
Jill and I both agree: the next time we move we’re paying someone to do it for us.
My idea is to create a sporting cross between Mountaineering and Moving called Movaneering. Here’s how it works:
Just like traditional mountaineering - or whoosy man mountaineering as I like to call it now - this new sport is performed at high altitude, 5000 feet or more.
 Here is an example of the sort of trail you might dig in a movaneering event. Note, the bottom step is exposed in this photo. There is still another 6 inches to go before reaching the ground. |
Mountaineers hike on trails. But a movaneer creates his/her own trail by digging in the snow and ice down to solid earth with a variety of shovels.
A mountaineer carries a backpack. A movaneer carries things like bookshelves and couches. Plus numerous boxes of books. And of course the movaneer always works solo. He carries everything all alone, over icy paths that he clears himself.
When a movaneer takes a rest he won’t just sit back and relax in front of a fire. No, a movaneer sits down at his computer and works.
A movaneer doesn’t slow down when he suffers an injury. Whether it be broken toes or a sprained wrist a movaneer just grits his teeth and mushes on.
The main thing that mountaineering has in common with movaneering is the goal of accomplishment. In mountaineering the goal is to climb to a summit and return. In movaneering the goal is to unload the UHaul truck.
If you’re up to the challenge and would like to become a movaneer, then I suggest doing lots of abdominal exercises to prevent injuring your back. You should train by lifting the furniture in your house, by yourself, and moving it around. Eventually you can work yourself up to where you can carry a couch solo over an icy incline.
I’m talking to ESPN about adding this to the Winter X Games. I’ll keep you posted on how the negotiations go.
Paradox of Choice: (approximately 1 hour long) a lecture by Barry Schwartz - hosted by Google TechTalks, April 27th, 2006.
This lecture covers how with increasing choice comes a decrease in satisfaction. Professor Schwartz talks about how this is true and how it can be managed. It’s full of great data to help you run your life or your company better.
On a personal note: As anyone watches this they will reflect on their decision making process. I find that in most instances I choose the first thing that I believe will satisfy. For instance, the first car that I bought was the first car that I looked at. I knew what my budget was, I knew what I needed the car to do. I test drove it and didn’t look at another. And, I always loved the car.
In contrast I once built a PC that took way more time than I anticipated with researching, building, and troubleshooting. In the end I didn’t use the PC very long and eventually gave it away.
And because of who I work for I wonder if giving a third color option for the Zune was such a good idea. In my forum readings it is the single most complained about feature. It’s striking in that it seems like a non issue. If you don’t like the brown Zune then get a black or white one. However, I believe that most people will be drawn to either black or white fairly strongly. But the brown Zune is the real gray choice. As such no matter which one you get you’ll think to some degree that you should have gotten the other.
How long do you work on a given project? I’m just guessing but I’d say 4-6 months is probably the average. Some projects might take in the ballpark of a year or so but few stretch on past that.
But what would it be like if we could work on the same project for years. Granted we would want it to be a pretty damn cool project but still. Just imagine how your RIA, or application, whatever, might work if you devoted a decade to it.
The work of Theo Jansen is a good example of what you might be able to do if you were able to devote 16 years to a project. Although he is an artist, not an engineer, his art looks like a cross between what Leonardo, Babbage and Darwin might have done had they worked together. The thought and care that has gone into his amazing creations are an inspiration.
It’s too bad that few people get to work on projects like this: open ended, little or no oversight, and suffecent funding. Today it’s about getting to market first with no critical bugs. Or getting a new design out without serious testing. Or publishing with little or no editing.
What do you think the Lord of the Rings trilogy would have been like if Tolken hadn’t taken a few decades to write and rewrite over and over again?
I’m not even sure what I would want to work on if I had that freedom. But it’s fun to think about.
What would you do?
This is hands down one of the coolest . . . what the hell would you call this? I dunno. Anyway, brilliant work.
http://www.motionographermedia.com/jarrattmoody/intonation.mov
You think they could do the whole movie this way? Okay, that might get a little old after a while but still.
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