I brought home three exotic yogurts from the grocery store yesterday, and tonight my roomies and i had a taste test.  Here's how it turned out.  All yogurts were the Plain flavor.

Bufala (water buffalo) milk
Bufala di Vermont
http://bufaladivermont.com/
Taste and consistency a bit like fluffy ricotta cheese.  You can totally imagine this yogurt as a filling in an italian dish or dessert.  On later tasting (after the others had been sampled), I noticed a slight hint of bitterness.

Goat's milk
Redwood Hill Farm
http://www.redwoodhill.com/
Very creamy and rich mouthfeel.  Mild salty taste at first, and then a few seconds later a HUGE "meaty" kick as it goes down.  The big noticeable delay between the first taste and the distinct animaly aftertaste was kind of shocking in fact.

Sheep's Milk
Old Chatham Sheepherding Company
http://www.blacksheepcheese.com/
The immediate word that came to mind with this one is "grassy."  I felt like i must be tasting whatever these sheep ate.  It felt light on the tongue, but was actually the most fatty of the three varieties.

More changes.  more changes.  will explain soon.   (not enough sleep lately)

Meanwhile, I'm working on an art project and i need help from programmer friends (and others interested in data viz).

Question:  What elements of a coding (learning) project would be interesting to visualize over the course of say a month?   Anywhere from the profound to the banal.  Here are some ideas i've had (and others have suggested) thus far.

A graph could plot "lines of code written per hour" or "number and type of crashes" and even poke fun at the procrastination process by comparing those numbers with “number of times Facebook is checked.”   The data visualization framework will be built in such a way that new variables can be added and tracked over the course of the month, as new trackable behavior emerges in context.  A word/tag cloud would be an obvious possibility.

The words of the code itself could be incorporated into a visualization, maybe even pulling in content from the internet that relates to the code or vocabulary being used.

you could have a whole bunch of procedural effects
based on a whole bunch of different things
like, completed functions, # of lines code, classes, bla bla bla
its kind of a gold mine
like, the stuff gets more hectic the more lines of code are written
it could even do stuff based on what characters are typed

So now tell me yours.  feel free to get crazy.  also if you have ideas about what form the visualization would take.   I want the vizs to be meaningful/grokkable as much as possible, not just looking like sparkly scribbles.

This morning as I hear the bells ringing, I am glad to have been born.

this is a little lazy of me but i am giving you a link to my new creative project work log.   it will probably have some personal-ish stuff too, but most of the real life stuff will stay here.

http://www.rapport.moboid.com/

the post there now has updates on all the crazy shiz i'm working on at the moment!

I'm thinking about getting an eee or something like it.  Does any one have opinions/advice either way about this category of machine?  My main concerns are:

- Battery life - it should last longer than the 3 hours of my MacBook Pro
- Keyboard comfort - I have normal sized girl hands, but i don't like to angle my wrists excessively, so it needs to be fairly comfortable
- OS and storage - I will try to run Linux and freeware.   I will try.
- Price - Max out at $500

NYTimes review of the category:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/technology/personaltech/05basics.html

Everything started to make a lot more sense this year when I realized my totem animal is the 19-year-old boy.

I'm helping take care of my friend's two kids.  Her daughter is 3 years, and her son is 3 weeks.   Well, almost 4, now.

Most who know me would be pretty shocked to hear this.  I'm not a "kid person."   I'm really doing it to help my friend.... but also to face my fear.  If I can face my terror of deep water and go diving to 70 feet around a submerged wreck... I should be able to face plenty of other similar (at least no smaller) terrors, like constantly interacting with and being personally responsible for the life of a small human.  I started in April helping for a week with the newborn of another good friend, and now I'm moving up to the two-kid experience.

So I can understand a little bit better, being here day in and day out, what it's like for people (especially mothers) who do this.

One thing I noticed, which made a lot of sense, is that kids, quite obviously, take you out of yourself.  When I'm engaged with them, I "live in the moment," like what's all the rage in new age circles these days (WASP philosophy by way of Eastern religion.)  I don't think or worry about myself.  I just do what I'm gonna do without over analyzing it.  I pretend, I play, I communicate.  In a way, I cease to exist.  I become only what this other being needs me to be.  And that can be existentially fulfilling.

Add a heaping helping of social validation and biological imperative on top of that phenomenon, and you've got quite a compelling package to slip a life into.

STILL can't see myself doing that though.  It's Aunt Heather all the way, until (much) further notice.

I made my first muxtape.

This will hopefully console you all for the fact that I want to upload a photo of my ass-bruise, but can't find crop lines that would both show the magnitude of the thing, while preserving my internet propriety somewhat.

Sorry about that.

So i was supposed to be in Chicago right now, visiting my sister.
But I had a little bicycle incident last Thursday, and I postponed my trip a bit.

I was riding home along the awesome city bike path, and passed a bike shop.  I needed chain grease so I made a sudden decision to pull over.   There was no one coming toward me, so I thought I was OK, but apparently there was a guy right behind me, possibly even trying to pass me on the left.  He was so close, had no choice but to ram into me, and we both fell splayed in the middle of the bike path intersection.  
So I'm OK, but what a pain!  The swelling and pain are going away bit by bit.  I can type now, and hold a pen (i'm left handed). My main frustration is not being able to ride my bike, or do other actions that would engage my left wrist in any way.  But hopefully it'll be sufficiently healed before I have to leave for Chicago on Wednesday.  I'm not looking forward to dealing with my luggage like this.

Oh so as it turns out?  (and after 2 separate trips to Ikea at the expense of large amounts of social capital) I actually DID have the missing bed parts, in my tool chest.  I discovered them at the bottom of it while looking for a different tool.  It's a good thing too because they stopped making them!   So, I've had my bed together for a week or so now.  Two?

Also I got a TV.  And... it's HUGE.  32 inch monstrosity, bought cheap from a friend who upgraded to projector (which I'm dying to do, myself).  I told myself I'd never get another tube TV but here it sits, in the middle of my floor, because it's TOO DAMNED HEAVY to go on top of the table i intended as my TV stand.  I nearly broke the backs of 3 men - two friends and a complete stranger from down the street - getting it down to my Basement Lair.  Now I have to figure out what to put it on, and how to get it onto that.

Also, I need my Xbox back from Cindy and Derek!  I loaned it out for the Rock Band Pixies Party cuz theirs is broken.   Finally I will be able to finish the last level of Portal!

Pretty soon I'll be able to take some pictures of the new place.

Work-wise, I'm in a holding pattern for a bunch of different opportunities, contract and full time.  My cash reserves are holding out fairly well but I think I can only go about one more month like this before I need a real income.   One more month to really commit time to making my own game.  At the moment I am looking at Sims Carnival Game Creator.  It may sound cheesy, but it's from a project headed up by Rod Humble, so I'm inclined to give it a solid look.  It seems like a good drag-and-drop tool to teach myself the higher level coding/scripting concept stuff.  Kind of like GameMaker but with a better interface?  (That's what I imagine.)  Also a LOT like Gendai Games' GameSalad, which I'm also hoping to check out when the Alpha program opens.

Fire Island was super nice, really relaxing.  Just hung out in the beach shack, cooked, took long walks on the beach, read books, swam in the cold ocean, collected rocks and shells, and had many great long convos with Jane.  The concert we went to at Jones Beach amphitheater was hit by a freak rainstorm, and the headliners were postponed for 90 minutes, but since we had backstage passes, we just hung out and talked to  interesting people and drank wine.  We were able to watch the show from a lovely raised and covered area directly on the side of the stage (view was great though sound was shit).  Name-droppable people in the backstage scene included a famous NYC chef, a feted magazine editor, and of course the band.

Brooklyn was also fun though brief.  Hanging with the longtime ladyfriends, plus Mario who's over from Vienna.

The train rides were very productive (esp the one from MTL to NYC) but never has doing nothing for 12 solid hours worn me out so much.  I sat across from a stinky drunken loser from most of the trip.  Dude was calling his gf and everyone in his family, calling them whores and worse (all of them) and telling them he was going to kill them and/or himself.   Whenever the cell reception got bad, he'd throw the phone across the train car and then have to get the conductors to help him retrieve it from where it got stuck behind a seat.  i think he unintentionally got some young college kid kicked off the train because he bought a beer for him.  When we deboarded at Essex, the fellow was met by the local constabulary and gently whisked away.

Now i'm in Burlington VT.  Kai gets here tomorrow night for our late night drive back to MTL, and until then I'm meeting with folks from Champlain College, about worky type stuff.  I also have some freelance gigs under consideration.   I'm trying to figure out what work arrangement makes me most likely to have time AND motivation to do my own creative coding and sound making.  If I do freelance I'll have to get a lot better at regulating my own schedule and workflow.

After finding about 50 "real" (and sometimes important) emails from the past year trapped in my spam filters, and after months of needing to hand-remove about 15 spam messages per day from my inbox, I'm going to break down and move to gmail for my mail access (until now i've been popping mail to Thunderbird).  If gmail doesn't improve the situation by at least 90% then I'm going to be pissed.  Because i strongly dislike the concept behind gmail.  I just really hate spam.  If anyone has an alternate solution to gmail that they want to suggest, or some kind of hybrid solution that gets me better spam filtrage, get in touch (but make it quick).

In other updates I'm leaving tomorrow for a long weekend vacation on Fire Island (the gay beach mecca off the coast of Long Island) with some of the old Girl Games crewe and our friends.  The major highlight is I'm Jane's date to an REM concert at Jones Beach - backstage passes!  On the way back from NY I'm taking a side trip to Burlington VT to meet with some school/work people there, and then rendez-vous with Kai for a mini road-trip back to MTL!  I'm getting around by Amtrak this time so we'll see how that works out.  It's slow (takes all day to get there), but cheap.  I plan to use the time on the rails to get some work done, like a few more Processing exercises, and game designey stuff.

Still not fully settled in to my apartment.  I discovered I'm missing some small parts to my bed so I have to make another excursion to Ikea to replace them.  Ugh.

I've had the weirdest sleeping schedule lately.   Falling asleep at 10 pm and waking up at 5 am.  Being horrifically exhausted in the afternoon.

I wonder if this is my body's preferred cycle or simply a response to the moving stress?  To changing latitudes?

My room is just a little bit further unpacked, but today there's gonna be big changes I hope - going to Ikea this afternoon to get all kinds of necessities and not-so-necessities.  And Lynn and Alain are going to help me get the last of their stuff (some big paintings of Lynn's, mostly) moved into the storage room.

Ornette seems to be settling in pretty well. He and Fuzz, Lynn's cat, don't get along yet, but fortunately they don't cross paths much.  Fuzz, the mistress of the house, is 20 years old!  So it's mostly just hissing and yowling when they occasionally meet in the stairwell.

Yesterday I went to my friend Nicole's apartment and bought some of her fashions (she's a designer) for cheap-cheap.  I have really been hating my wardrobe lately so this was great.  Her stuff is really feminine and flirty but well tailored.  I've been wearing her stuff since before I even met her!  http://www.fairyesque.com/

I managed through something of a miracle save (thanks to my boss/friend/mentor/landlord Lynn) to get across the border with a work permit that's good for at least a year!  So I can relax, and travel, without worrying each time how I will get back home.

My new apartment/room in Little Italy is about 1/3 assembled.  I just have SO much stuff, and not as much space to fit it in.  I also have rented a storage space nearby, so I'm basically deciding what stays in the room, what goes to storage, and what just goes.  Another paring down.  I'll be here indefinitely;  maybe I can save enough money to make a down payment on a condo?  (scary!)

On the professional/creative front, things are going really well.  I'm looking at a few different work opportunities, and taking time to figure out which one(s) fit best with my current lifestyle.  Which will allow me to do my creative work and learn new things and enjoy life.

And on top of it all, it's SUMMER IN MONTREAL.  Every night there are usually 2 to 4 gatherings or events I want to go to, and all I have to worry about is the most efficient bike route to take between them.  And what to wear.  (I'm getting bored with all my clothes.)

I was watching the video of Randy Pausch's recent address at the 2008 CMU commencement and I noticed something.

After his speech when he is hugging his wife, he says something to her.  I can't really read lips, so I didn't think much of it except to notice he was not saying "i love you" like you'd expect.  But then after seeing what he does next I watched it again and it was perfectly clear.

Starting June 1 when I arrive back in montreal, my goal is to stay as lightly-employed as possible, and work on personal projects, including learning how to program (starting with Processing) so I can be more self-sufficient in my creative work. So, I think I might use this blog as a sort of learning journal (dev log sorta) for that process. I know I have a lot of proggy LJ friends out there who can give me some advice and encouragement! Yay!

The update on my border-crossing situation is I am going to drive a U-haul truck with what little stuff I have. My friend Lauren is flying here to help me make the road trip. She is awesome! The reasons why I chose this method are just way too complicated and frustrating to describe here but believe me I considered almost everything. I still don't know exactly my border status, but if all else fails, I'm a visitor. Who just happens to be driving a 3/4-empty U-haul. heh.

I basically haven't written the whole time I've been in Pittsburgh but I'm not sure why. Some combination of Facebook and... too much information to deliver? I did stuff. Lots of stuff. Maybe I can tell you in person some time. :) I'd rather that than just post a bunch of "here's stuff I did" links here. But if you do want the URLs, hit me up.

Anyhow, I'll be going back to Montreal soon, probably at the end of May. I'm trying to figure out HOW, and i figure this group has plenty of diverse moving experiences. I want to do it cheaply, is the thing. And with the least amount of environmental damage, as a secondary goal. Right now my primary options are to rent a U-Haul truck (expensive and wasteful), or to pack and ship my stuff and fly back. But maybe there are other options or resources you know about. Ride sharing? One-way car rental across the US/Canada border (Ha!)? Container shipping services (again, across the border)? Oh and all the options have to include the simultaneous transportation of the cat.

Thoughts?

Beannacht
("Blessing")

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

John O'Donoghue
1954 - 2008

Yeah so, I went to campus today to meet a fellow professor for lunch and do a bunch of setup paperwork for my little gig at CMU. And... Ok... it's pretty obvious that this could be a really good environment/career/situation for me. University teaching, that is.

Granted, I have about the most deluxe introduction to the field that a person could ask for. The Andrews (Carnegie and Mellon) were both huge art collectors and philanthropists. So it's only fitting that their School of Art is a gaudy turn-of-the-entury palace of the fine arts. Marble on the floors, frescoes (depicting notable artists and cultures of yore) on the ceiling, wrought iron and gilt everywhere, copies of famous greek statues lining the halls... On one hand it's kind of laughable, but on the other you get the distinct feeling you are doing Something Important, something that is part of the history of human culture.

The School of Art (the visual stuff, as opposed to music, architecture, etc) is on the 3rd and 4th floors of the 4-story building, up a wide and winding staircase. Well, the 3rd floor is, at least. The 4th is accessible only by smaller, narrower staircases that twist and turn as if leading to a secret garret. And indeed, the fourth floor is the "attic" of the fine arts building, and the faculty studio/offices line the side with giant slanted windows for a roof. Walking in for the first time, one expects to find a frenchman wearing a smock and beret, carrying a palette and sloppy brush. But instead one finds me, with just my laptop, in my a studio that's twice as large as my room at my new house.

View Larger Map

Meanwhile, I had two really great conversations with School of Art colleagues about the university's role in pushing the boundaries and envelopes of games/art/culture. About the university's need to do what the corporations cannot and would not. About the mandate to NOT necessarily be popular, but unabashedly experimental. And to teach students to pursue their own visions.

I could get used to this.

For one reason or another, I think I have cried more in the last three months than I have at any other time in my life.

Well, except for maybe the summer of 2003.

But, other than that.