Predicting the Future

What will 2008 bring? More of the same? Better? Worse? Change is likely. Change is good.

Kelly conjures the Future

The Muted Holiday Sting

It seems that with each year, I need to be increasingly stoic about my pain. This year was exceptional for several reasons. The easy ones are the objective physical pains. "Your patella is fractured, it's becoming arthritic, deal with it". OK, it still f*cking hurts! Suck it up. Then there is the upcoming decade anniversary of Chris' death - something that I still can't process. Good thing my cadre of coping skills are exceptionally well developed. "Look how much better off you are than that". That's lame. Blue has suggested that I should expect (and plan for) excellence. Right on! I just need to motor though life's crud until we find the corduroy.

Good Times at the Pig Pen (ca. 1977)

Too Much Snow for Poker

With over two feet on the ground before "Winter", this is one of the snowiest starts in some time. A noticeable contrast to last year's warmth. In any event, there is no way I'll make it out to Brian's poker game. Drats. How will I pay for fuel?

Snow on Mine Hill

Neil Jung

In the 70s it was "After the Gold Rush" and "Harvest". In the 80s I lost track. And throughout the 90s I was big Teenage Fanclub fan. Clearly, Neil Young was an influence, as well as a track on 1995's Grand Prix. So when Dan made my miracle with four tickets to Neil's Boston show last Sunday; it seemed inevitable that I stir up Lisa and Casto. The show was great. My faves were the start and end of the electric set, "The Loner" and "No Hidden Path".

Briggs, Ian, and Casto (1978)

Adjust your Monitors

I had about 3000 slides scanned; now I have to roll them out with witty titles.

Woody adjusting Y/C delay (ca. 1979, Studio A Control Room, Bearsville)

Biscoween

Jeff called and before you could say "Boo", it was Halloween with The Disco Biscuits. This was a needed school night journey. They took the Orpheum with a "rock opera" not quite like Tommy.

Not the Disco Biscuits - DMB+Trey @ `Roo 2004

Above Average

Treked to Woodstock for the Johnny Average Tribute. It was great to see friends and be reminded of Woodstock in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Missing Mick.

Breakfast Chat

Awful Audio from my camera, but captures some vibe

Casto's Pals

More Dogs of Fall

We get deeper into October. The Red Sox are still in the ALCS. Peak color has reached the hilltop. And the dogs must go out on patrol.

Liona on Patrol

Pages Turn

My nostalgia for the circus of Phish festivals was revived this week as I heard the lyrics "If life we easy and not so fast, I wouldn't think about the past." As it turned out there was a circus in town the night Susan, Brooke, Matt and I went out to see Doug Stanhope - regrettably not Phish... Ringling Bros. Doug's humor is honest and insightful. It certainly does the job of momentarily disengaging yourself from your own, possibly stagnant, perspective. Great stuff. Right to the top of the list of people you might want to party with. Like P.J. O'Rourke twenty years ago.

Greg does his thing at MVPT (2007)

The Explorer Canoe Trips

For two consecutive Augusts starting in 1974, Explorer Post #63 would set out on a "Canoe Trip". In `74 there where 13 explorers; the next year just 9. Did it go commercial? Nahh, it was just a roll of the dice. I captured some shaky Super-8 that stayed in heavy-rotation among Pig Pen favorites. Catch the (silent) vibe here:

A non time-compressed version of the above is available on Blip.TV Here. It will take a minute or two for the download, or you can click below...

Click To Play

Dogs of Fall

The leaves cling to the trees, the ones that weren't dried off as the result of a harsh, punishing summer. Susan is on pet patrol for the greater good. I'm comfortable, at least for the moment, as the sox work their way through the first ALCS game.

Linus (spring 2007)

Zoe

Zoe brought together friends and family for her Bat Mitzvah, which coincidentally, fell on the third day of Sukkot. I had the honor of opening and closing the Ark. This was a joyous and memorable day!

Schmozing with Ted and Jamie

Whine Fest

Regrettably I'll miss Lori's always-excellent SML shindig this year. The event has morphed into more of a party and less of a reunion. New gossip emerges each year and I doubt WhineFest will be an exception.

Onteora Montage (1973)

Bachelor Mode 07

I'm in "bachelor mode" as Susan and Eileen head off to the wilderness of Baxter State Park. What will I do? For starters I'll try to hack my iPod touch. It arrived yestereday and I enjoyed borrowing UNH's wireless while chatting with Duane and Tina at Cotton. Is it a media player? Maybe - Although I've sorted my music by color for CoverFlow, I haven't plugged my headphones in yet. But it is an insanely thin and sexy Safari web browser. Time will tell what I can do with the thing.

Hint of Fall

The exceptionally dry August, in part because most every summer t-storm "missed", has triggered an early hint of fall. It isn't that the leaves have changed; it's that some of them have just fallen dead off the trees.

Happy Dogs I

Happy Dogs II

Happy Frog

Summer of Tragedy

In my life, I haven't processed as much tragedy as I have this summer. There are no words, magic or otherwise, that I can muster to help make it better. Only time.

Hilary at the Dubes Pond Classic (2004)

Knee Bored

Today marks the eleven-week aniversary of when I dinged my knee rounding four-ball at Dubes. This is a long recovery; and it's a drag. The last seven weeks have offered only a slow improvement. But soon the snow will fly.

Welcome Wagon at KTEX

Amsterblog

The three days at FPL went by in an instant. There is very little information content in saying “Amsterdam is a fun city”. But by circumstance, I eschewed the hackneyed red lights and red eyes for some deep dialog on reconfigurable computing. Dinner on Sunday night was at a fine Indian restaurant adjacent to a sex shop. Dinner Monday night was at a French affair called “Luden”. Finally the grand conference dinner at Jamie Oliver’s, “Fifteen”. Compared to Madrid, it was pretty tame. But maybe it just was that we were collectively missing Kati and Lesley. Sat with Seda on the plane from AMS to BOS; she was on the second leg of a slightly longer journey.

The Conference Hotel

Along the Canals

Mondo Bloggo

So long since posting: I brought "Steve French" home from the dealership. I can't think of a better name. Royce and Craig came to visit. Susan and I saw "Zappa Plays Zappa" in Boston, which was fantastic. The best live performance I've seen since, um, the two days at Tweezer Center just before Coventry. Then there was `vibes 07. My funked up bipartite patella and the still-unresolved mystery of why it so slow to heal. Then HotChips. And here we are. Whew! It sure seemed like more. I guess there is the jobby thing mixed in there too.

Preparing for HotChips (Menlo Park, CA)

Jeff is Happy (Vibes07, Bridgeport, CT)

My Bipartite Patella?

I like math. And graphs. So the word bipartite tends to fire more feel-good neuro-chemical transactions than bad. Until today. A trained professional looked at images of my knee taken just after my trauma. Tweaky-Tweaky with the gain and offset (er, window and level) and there exists this very uncool segmentation between the otherwise homogeneous density. MRI to follow soon.

Iontophoresis with Dexamethasone

In college, I thought dipping your finger in DMSO to "taste" the molecule would be a bad idea. Today there is a whole industry around pushing drugs through your skin, and look, one seems to be stuck to my knee. With Iontophoresis, we go beyond simple diffusion to let a potential drive the molecule in. In my case, a potent steroid. It seems very non-green that it is OK to just chuck this in the trash. Does it help? Not sure.

My iPatch

Bummer

Four weeks to the day since I dinged my knee, I've certainly plateaued and perhaps been set back a little. Things were getting better. I was walking. I skied an easy set. Now today I'm dorkus-maximus again. I think that Naproxen works well; but has a relatively slow pharmacokinetic time-constant. Susan found the Rangpur, so at least we have health drinks on board. I'm optimistic.

• Pharmacokinetics of Naproxen Sodium
  Naproxen itself is rapidly and completely absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract with an in vivo bioavailability of 95%. The elimination half-life of naproxen ranges from 12 to 17 hours. Steady-state levels of naproxen are reached in 4 to 5 days and the degree of naproxen accumulation is consistent with this half-life.

Translation: "Steady as she goes"!

Bitter Lemon

Tanqueray has capitalized on the disappearance of Schweppes Bitter Lemon with the widespread availability of their Rangpur gin. For those of us who just have to have our quinine salt with gin, this stuff is the shit. Just go with Rangpur and "indian" tonic and you are good to go with your anti-malarial health drink.

The Frogs Return

It has been an unusual year weather-wise. The frog population of the pond in our yard dropped from 20 down to about two. Maybe they were killed off by a warm January thaw; or a snake. Anyhow, after Susan did a little eco-shock and returned the water to a less swampy state, at least two frogs are back and we witnessed this telltale emulsion, which we think is a good thing.


Frog eggs on emulsion-like tape

Missing Chris

A decade goes by in an instant. January 13, 1998 tragically separated me from my touchstone, for this life anyhow. And in my dimensionless "one life per life" aphorism, this one goes on. And that's a good thing.

No sound, but Ramones or Nick Lowe will do

Leona and Guitars

We aren't sure why, but Leona, one of our rescued bull terriers goes crazy vicious when she is shown an acoustic guitar. Perhaps she was traumatized by an acoustic daft noodler at an early age? Not sure. In the clip below I simply pick one up and show it to her. Linus, himself, couldn't care less.

Patellar Tendonitis

I'm told this is a good diagnosis and I shall, after 3-4 weeks of physical therapy, be back on the water. How come none of the health care professionals offered up a comforting phrase like "you'll be as good as new"?

Dulling the Pain

Not My Patella, Please

Darn, this still hurts. After three days of no change - good or bad, things took a turn for the worse. Maybe because I moved around a bit during a client presentation on Friday. Anyhow, had AP, lateral, sunrise, and oblique views shot with the fancy new digital AmSi panels in my doc's imaging center. Friendly tech didn't like the idea me emailing myself the DICOM originals; so regrettably I can't offer up my knee for a Web2.0 swarmignosis. I'll have to wait until Monday morning when the radiologist comes back from wherever they summer.

Not My Patella

Knee Injury

Ouch, I've injured my right Knee!
It's my fourth pass of my second set of the twentieth day I've been on the water this year. Dave's driving my Nautique. There is a crossing tailwind. Each of my previous nine passes had been progressively better. This had been one of the first times I can recall where I managed a crosswind properly. I knew I'd have a stiff wind at my back 1-2 only to have a headwind 2-3, etc. Anyhow, Dave was coaching me to ski more up course and I obliged. I was wide and early around 1, 2 and 3. By the time I got to 4, well, I was coming back in right on top of the ball! Ski tip goes over 4-ball, which was way-high because the water level had dropped recently, and crash... Out the front, forward right knee makes blunt impact with F1 shovel.
Yesterday I tried ibuprofen, no luck; today we will work though naproxin sodium. I wish I could get a quick MRI and diagnosis. I can't move my heel anywhere near my butt. Or walk!

Quack, Quack, Quack: Patient experienced a patellofemoral joint impact trauma to right knee while waterskiing on June 26, 2007. Impact likely occurred at a flexion angle in excess of 90 degrees. Limited swelling and contusion observed day following; but patient is unable to stand on right foot alone and significant pain at flexion angle beyond 90 degrees. Subfracture level injury.

Dube's Sub-Buoy Technology

Johnny Average

Mick passed away this week in June 2007 from cancer. Way too soon, too fast. Ralph said there was going to be another Falcon's jam; but it was not to be. Thirty years ago "The Falcon's" were the shit. Playing the White Water Depot, the `Lake, even CBGBs; Johnny fronted the band. An unbelievable cast, coming out under the veil of absurd pseudonymity, supported him. It was the best. We miss Johnny - but there is comfort in knowing he gave us all those great times.

Johnny and Nicole - 1978 Belleayre Music Festival

The Falcons at the Joyous Lake - New Years 1978

Mick in the Bearsville Studio Shop (1978)

Bonnaroo 2007

There is never enough time to recap Bonnaroo adequately. My opinions include: Mute Math, Clutch, Brazillian Girls, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Lily Allen, Tool, String Cheese Incident, Railroad Earth, Ziggy Marley, Ben Harper, The Police, and Flaming Lips. Hung out with Doug, Jamie, Paul, Michael, and Bettina. Missed Thor this year. Praxis Rocks!

Security Check

Camp

David, Gillian, and John Paul Jones

Star of the Camp

Binding Fatigue

Heard somewhere: "Who's got my extra 2003 Connelly Pivot Rear High-Wraps size-M?"
Drats. Just as something was starting to click this summer on the water. The real issue is the tear in the rear binder. The cracks up front concern me too.

Tear in the rear binder

Cracks on the front-left of front binder

Geospatial Blogging

The Google MyMaps feature is neat. I made a Dube's Map and a Telluride Map. I'm pretty sure I've just touched the surface of what can be done. ... The windup to Bonnaroo may or may not be good therapy, but it will probably buy some time I need, so that I can process.

Jenn

Course Work

It has been some what of a soft start to the waterski season. An impressive count of sets; just not up the ladder all that quick. A few days on Baboosic - as far back as April. Today was 12 overall. But it has been everything but the most conducive to quick start. And some of the days have been one set wonders. Nonetheless, it is late May and I've been on the water (more or less) for 6 days straight.

Before

After

Ripped Apart

I'm not ready to write anything about my niece, who I barely knew, yet touched me deeply. I know I'll be more up to it with a little distance, a little time. I figure it will provide some self-therapy to just write something.

Jenn

Stanley

Stan possessed the exceptional ability to drive technological challenges to their inevitable conclusion. There would be no speculation, suspicion or doubt; just proof, the naked answer to what was before just conjecture. “We will take away all the excuses”, he would say.

Stan had engineering spot on. He understood one could contemplate science and math until they were blue in the face; but at the end of the day, there wouldn’t be any value until something was realized. Stan preternaturally knew the silicon canvas to first principles. Bipolar, CMOS, PALs, ASICs, FPGAs they were all just technologies. Stanley’s passion was to build things for the keen end-value he saw; not simply because something was technically feasible.

We met in the early 1980s. Datacube was young and growing its offering of “frame-grabbers”, devices that could acquire and display frames of video images. These devices were being used in the first machine vision systems. A conventional CPU could not process the video data sufficiently fast and Stan was among the first to appreciate the opportunity to provide a solution. Stan saw the value in fast math and I knew some DSP. He said “Siegel, I’ll double your salary and make you a millionaire in a year”. He was true to at least one of those points.

Which reminds me of my favorite Stan aphorism: “Perception Is Reality”. Descartes and Kant may have noodled with this concept a bit; but Stanley really put it out of the park. Stan was his own gatekeeper between conflicting goals. On one hand there was the stark truth, frequently embodied in the practice of infinite iterative technology refinement. And on the other hand there was the charismatic entrepreneur needing to close a deal now. He used this insight to terrific advantage not just for himself, but unselfishly to those around him, to empower them and to protect them.

I’m blessed to have a quarter-century of “Stan stories” stored somewhere between by ears. My attorney reminds me to add that, when discussing these, I clearly state that I don’t recall these specifically and that this is only speculation. So we were all in this sushi bar and Stan said “You know, let me tell you…”.


Stan with Fredi, Bearsville, NY 1989

High Water Marks

After a chilly free ski with Brian, Brooke, and Jim on Baboosic, I drove over to Dubes to check it out. The water is still high, perhaps 8 inches over the dam. However the course is mostly intact (who needs 3-ball?). The much advertised warm-up is on the way; but my Nautique is still in winter sleep.

Water rushing over dam at Dubes

Season Cycle 07

Fifteen or so snow-ski days last winter and now the season cycle turns to spring. Day one on the water with Brian and Nader. Just some free-skiing, but good and sore.

No drysuit needed

Yum, Snack Food

Running a conference can be a costly affair. The half-sandwich and pretzels I had for lunch cost our group $40. Good thing the papers are compelling.

Not enough Carbs

FCCM07 Starts

FCCM07 got underway today in Napa.

Technical Illustration

Arrival in Napa

I "helped" United reposition a real three-class 767 for BOS/SFO. I haven't flown a two-isle plane domestically in a very long time. Anyhow, had some breakfast with Phil and drove up over the Golden Gate to Napa.

Drive by Napa

Shakedown Street

Walking through the old Nice markets near Palais De Justice is in many ways similar to navigating "shakedown street" at a jamband festival: You're inundated with all these strange stimuli: strange people, strange scents, strange behavior. You get the idea. And the sketch-dar is all confused as they are speaking French. There is no correlation peak to find because there isn't a reference. Damn!

"Who's got my ... ?!"

Promenade des Anglais

The sun came out this morning and so I walked along the Promenade des Anglais from Beau Rivage to the west end of Nice and back. Just a few km, but in the stiff onshore breeze it felt like more. Slowed my mind down for lunch on the beach at my hotel’s namesake restaurant. Annete, who served my Salad Nicoise (you think?), wished to take my picture and I agreed; but she protested that she never looks good in photos and so I could not take hers. I think that is what she said. I don’t speak French. This has to be some kind of record for me not carrying out a fluent, face-to-face conversation.

On la Plage

Arrival in Nice

Took a car to the bus to a plane to Frankfurt. Waited around. One more plane to Nice. Here we are. There is a new (1972) Zappa release out called "Imaginary Diseases". Listened to it twice on the plane. My fave is "D.C. Boogie"!

Somewhere in France

To Hell You Ride Home

A posting about my travels home from Telluride, get it? ... Last night we had a fabulous dinner up at Allreds. It was Steve, Cyndi, Mark and me. I knew it was off to a good start when Mark started in with the blue cheese stuffed olives wrapped in white anchovies. It was part of a martini, of course; and only one of a plurality of superlatives for that dinner. Another was the “Palmira” wine. Yum. And then there was the Walu. You would think that Telluride was some kind of destination for fancy places to eat. You would be right. Mark and Steve had some kind of Grappa-like beverage that served as a catalyst for our subsequent adventure. … The ride down the gondola in Telluride at night is a blast. I want to just set up shop and ride round and round. “Wiiii, I’m peppy!” … We sampled two of the many possible last-Saturday-night-of-the-ski-season digs: First, the NoirBar under BluePoint, where DJ Harry was spinning. Then some blues band and the silver dollar saloon. The later seemed really lame to Steve and me, so we (unsuccessfully) engaged the “sketch-dar” and headed back to NoirBar. Steve made a great comment relating dance music to wine. Something about repetitive refinement, I forget. … Great Lakes got me to DEN. Untied got me DEN/ORD. Hopefully I’ll make it the rest of the way without drama. … All in all a terrific week in studying telemark technique in Colorado spring conditions.

Telluride Wind Down

Ipod skiing (I-skiing ?) today was cool. Patti Rothberg and McCartney were great for the spiritual thundersnow that fell intermittently. Later on in the sunshine, you can't go wrong with Scritti Politti. Dinner at Allreds tonight, then back home on Sunday.

"I could be jealous of someone like me"