ljplicease (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ljplicease) wrote2004-12-31 08:21 am
ljplicease) wrote2004-12-31 08:21 am
Entry tags:
- 2004,
- abstraction,
- alex,
- america,
- anzac,
- arizona,
- art,
- atlantic city,
- australia,
- australia day,
- bbq,
- beacon,
- bear lake,
- berkeley,
- brad,
- bradstock,
- chelsea ridge,
- christmas,
- chuck,
- citizenship,
- cnn,
- colin hay,
- colour,
- dancing,
- darfur,
- dcc,
- don,
- donkey show,
- e,
- election,
- enchilada night,
- eu,
- festivus,
- fire breathing,
- friends,
- halloween,
- houston,
- howard dean,
- i_suck,
- ian,
- ideabank,
- iraq,
- joanna,
- johanna,
- john kerry,
- laweyer,
- lighting,
- lowel,
- maine,
- megan,
- melly,
- mike,
- mikefest,
- moma,
- moose,
- move,
- mum,
- national folk festival,
- new york,
- nyc,
- nye,
- olympics,
- one day,
- padraic,
- parallel,
- photo,
- photography,
- quake,
- rc3,
- recital,
- robert cobbler,
- ronald regan,
- rs,
- sally,
- sherry,
- singapore,
- slc,
- sock khim,
- software engineering,
- springem,
- story,
- the company,
- the incredibles,
- tiffany,
- timing,
- tsunami,
- turkey day,
- tyler,
- u of a,
- uss olympia,
- wicked,
- winter,
- wizard,
- x-prize,
- year in review,
- русский
I Cannot Be Hurt by Anything this Wicked World Has Done
What was 2004? It was a year of stolen and disputed elections in Georgia and the Ukraine, the rise and fall of Howard Dean and John Kerry, the first private space flight and the end of the "X-Prize," disaster in Darfur, prisoner abuse in Iraq, expansion of the European Union, the death of Ronald Regan and a month of flags at half mast, the return of Greek Olympics and a very smug presidential victory. In less political but tragic terms, the worst natural disaster in my memory has occurred in Asia as Tsunami death tolls top 135,000 according to CNN.com.
For me, the year started out as a bleak one in the coldest New York winter I have ever experienced. My mother came to visit me for her birthday. We stayed in Manhattan and it was bitterly cold.
I took a lighting class at Dutchess which was a blast. Some of my friends from Black and White II were taking the class and I met some other cool people. It was so much fun working with those people, including the teacher, Lowel Handler.
In February I organized a ski trip to Salt Lake City. It sort of involved random friends from different aspects of my life, so nobody (myself included) knew everyone who was there, but everyone knew at least someone. e brought one of her Russian friends, and I have to say it was really cool to meet her. Apparently she is a fan of Colin Hay of Men at Work fame. Some time later she invited me to come down to the city when Colin came to town. He had a lot of funny stories about his career and is a true Australian.
We went to Atlantic City for what has become an annual tradition. Unfortunately the owners were trying to sell the house and I believe they have by now, so it seems that it might have been the last year! There was lots of alcohol and gambling involved. I am sure that one of those may have adversely effected the other, for those who do gamble (I do not).
Then I fled my bee infested apartment in Chelsea Ridge for refuge in my new Beacon apartment. e left The Company and moved out of Beacon just as I was moving in. Every time I drive by the sign which says "Now Entering Beacon" I think to myself "If you take the 'e' out of Beacon, you have Bacon." I had a house warming party where I made (you guessed it) Green Chili Enchiladas, and invited pretty much all my friends, including fellow The Company employees and students from the lighting class. It was great.
At work I was given the temporary assignment of clearing software of legal encumbrances which allowed me to meet a patent lawyer Tiffany who was fun to work with. I knew Sherry was interested in Patent Law, so I got them talking together. Apparently they got along smashingly. Tiffany said that Sherry was "a great person who is enthusiastic about life in general" and Sherry said she also got a lot from talking to Tiffany.
I flew to St. Petersburg Florida to attend Melly's recital somewhere in southern Florida. In May I went to Houston to visit Melly and we hung out and ate small portions of very large meals (no wonder Texans are... um... big). I met Melly's cat Lucifer (or Lucy for short).
After successful completion of my assignment with the lawyers, I was transferred to the Timing Department to work on Parallel Timing and Abstraction and (according to Alex) "anything else that we need you to do."
In June we had Mikefest at Mike's place. As usual, I shot a several rolls of film, but sadly never got around to scanning them. The band was great, and everyone had a terrific time.
For my first 4th of July as an American Citizen, I went to Slat Lake City and Bear Lake. I saw a moose, but didn't get my camera out quickly enough to prove it.
In the summer I took a color digital class at Dutchess which removed all free time that I had and replaced it with a lot of stress. One of my days was so long it inspired me to write rc3: another day in the life of robert cobbler, which was an homage to Richard's classic One Day in the Life of Robert Cobbler. The photo class was a great thing to do though, because I developed a work flow for preparing photographs in PhotoShop. I also came up with a pretty good portfolio of color NYC images. I was so relieved when the whole thing was over though.
In a somewhat successful attempt to streamline my life and get rid of some of my seldom used possessions, I sold a bunch of junk on eBay and half.com, and put the money into my savings account so that I could save up for a Mac G5.
Sherry went off to study Patent Law at Franklin Pierce where she is working hard to become a lawyer. Joanna and Padraic left to go back to school at Berkeley.
In August, after successful completion of my color digital class I went to Maine for the National Folk Festival and visited Sherry in her new home on the way up. It was wonderful staying with Sherry and Megan's parents.... they are great people and Megan has the nicest family I know which is not identical to my own (math nerd).
I went to my high school buddy Mike's summer BBQ at his home in near Philadelphia, where I got to meet Mike's wife Sarah, who is a fellow Los Alamite. While I was there, I also saw the historical museum ship USS Olympia, something I had been meaning to do for quite some time.
In September, I attended Bradstock 2004.
Kathy's friend Sally from San Francisco came visit and we all went into NYC for a night of disco, dancing and donkey. The next weekend we went for a hike and picked apples. Somebody accosted Rishi because he was wearing a Boston sweatshirt in New York State. There may be an ordinance against that kind of thing when the Yankees get beat by the Red Socks.
I started hanging out with my old college friend Tyler on-line and we started working on pranks for the first person shooter classic Quake. He came up with the funny ideas and I coded them up in the hackish language QuakeC. I wrote the story Arizona Fish Story : A Life Less Serious which was an homage of the good times we had when we were undergraduates.
Mike and his wife came up to visit me in my new home at the end of October and I invited all my friends over for a Halloween party, which included pyrotechnics and alcohol. I served (big surprise) Enchiladas.
In November I voted for the first time ever on election day. Many people have told me who I voted for, although I haven't told anyone who I voted for.
In November I saw The Incredibles twice, the first time with Joe and Cicely and the second time with my family when they came out for Thanksgiving. I think any movie which credits the Software Engineers who made the film is awesome.
Tyler and I (although mostly Tyler) finally tracked down I_SUCK who had been a fellow Quaker in the classic days of Quake back in Arizona. Funnily, it turned out he was working at The Company.
They "retired" Art and I took over as code owner of Wizard.
As mentioned earlier, my mum came up for Thanksgiving, and we spent one of our days in the city where we got to see the brand new MoMA (with a great photography gallery) and the musical Wicked.
I made lots of progress on Parallel Abstraction, which no longer crashes, but as I type this, it still doesn't produce the correct results. I have high hopes that it will be done shortly.
My Uncle Ian died, and we were all sorry to see him go.
In December, we celebrated Festivus at Brad's house. There was Alcohol and the punching of a piñata in there somewhere, neither of which was related, I am sure.
Sock Khim went back to Singapore (which I have confirmed through Internet research is indeed both a city and a state). Our lives are all richer for having gotten to know her. I think there is nothing cooler than bringing someone from a foreign culture into your circle of friends. There is so much to learn from people who think differently.
In late December, we had our first on-line sale on IdeaBank. While that makes us comparative with web technology of six or seven years ago, I think it's remarkable progress given the reluctance Chuck (the owner) has to change.
For Winter Holliday I went to Salt Lake City to be with my family. Although it is still a little strange thinking of it as being another home, I am getting used to it.
In Short, 2004 was A Great Year and I have high hopes that 2005 will be even better.
For me, the year started out as a bleak one in the coldest New York winter I have ever experienced. My mother came to visit me for her birthday. We stayed in Manhattan and it was bitterly cold.
 |
| Lowel and Johanna |
|---|
In February I organized a ski trip to Salt Lake City. It sort of involved random friends from different aspects of my life, so nobody (myself included) knew everyone who was there, but everyone knew at least someone. e brought one of her Russian friends, and I have to say it was really cool to meet her. Apparently she is a fan of Colin Hay of Men at Work fame. Some time later she invited me to come down to the city when Colin came to town. He had a lot of funny stories about his career and is a true Australian.
 |
| Brad and his Bro |
|---|
Then I fled my bee infested apartment in Chelsea Ridge for refuge in my new Beacon apartment. e left The Company and moved out of Beacon just as I was moving in. Every time I drive by the sign which says "Now Entering Beacon" I think to myself "If you take the 'e' out of Beacon, you have Bacon." I had a house warming party where I made (you guessed it) Green Chili Enchiladas, and invited pretty much all my friends, including fellow The Company employees and students from the lighting class. It was great.
 |
| Sherry |
|---|
 |
| Lucy |
|---|
After successful completion of my assignment with the lawyers, I was transferred to the Timing Department to work on Parallel Timing and Abstraction and (according to Alex) "anything else that we need you to do."
In June we had Mikefest at Mike's place. As usual, I shot a several rolls of film, but sadly never got around to scanning them. The band was great, and everyone had a terrific time.
For my first 4th of July as an American Citizen, I went to Slat Lake City and Bear Lake. I saw a moose, but didn't get my camera out quickly enough to prove it.
In the summer I took a color digital class at Dutchess which removed all free time that I had and replaced it with a lot of stress. One of my days was so long it inspired me to write rc3: another day in the life of robert cobbler, which was an homage to Richard's classic One Day in the Life of Robert Cobbler. The photo class was a great thing to do though, because I developed a work flow for preparing photographs in PhotoShop. I also came up with a pretty good portfolio of color NYC images. I was so relieved when the whole thing was over though.
In a somewhat successful attempt to streamline my life and get rid of some of my seldom used possessions, I sold a bunch of junk on eBay and half.com, and put the money into my savings account so that I could save up for a Mac G5.
 |
| Farewell Party for JoJo and Pad-Rock |
|---|
 |
| Sisters |
|---|
 |
| Mike Breathing Fire |
|---|
In September, I attended Bradstock 2004.
Kathy's friend Sally from San Francisco came visit and we all went into NYC for a night of disco, dancing and donkey. The next weekend we went for a hike and picked apples. Somebody accosted Rishi because he was wearing a Boston sweatshirt in New York State. There may be an ordinance against that kind of thing when the Yankees get beat by the Red Socks.
I started hanging out with my old college friend Tyler on-line and we started working on pranks for the first person shooter classic Quake. He came up with the funny ideas and I coded them up in the hackish language QuakeC. I wrote the story Arizona Fish Story : A Life Less Serious which was an homage of the good times we had when we were undergraduates.
 |
| Mike and Sarah |
|---|
In November I voted for the first time ever on election day. Many people have told me who I voted for, although I haven't told anyone who I voted for.
In November I saw The Incredibles twice, the first time with Joe and Cicely and the second time with my family when they came out for Thanksgiving. I think any movie which credits the Software Engineers who made the film is awesome.
Tyler and I (although mostly Tyler) finally tracked down I_SUCK who had been a fellow Quaker in the classic days of Quake back in Arizona. Funnily, it turned out he was working at The Company.
They "retired" Art and I took over as code owner of Wizard.
 |
| Thanksgiving Table |
|---|
I made lots of progress on Parallel Abstraction, which no longer crashes, but as I type this, it still doesn't produce the correct results. I have high hopes that it will be done shortly.
My Uncle Ian died, and we were all sorry to see him go.
 |
| Spitefully Stealing Gifts |
|---|
Sock Khim went back to Singapore (which I have confirmed through Internet research is indeed both a city and a state). Our lives are all richer for having gotten to know her. I think there is nothing cooler than bringing someone from a foreign culture into your circle of friends. There is so much to learn from people who think differently.
In late December, we had our first on-line sale on IdeaBank. While that makes us comparative with web technology of six or seven years ago, I think it's remarkable progress given the reluctance Chuck (the owner) has to change.
 |
| Christmas Portrait |
|---|
In Short, 2004 was A Great Year and I have high hopes that 2005 will be even better.