Another late post because work is still very busy (I try to write these on Mondays). We’re launching part 2 of 3 on the project this week. The rest of the time I’m working on design homework, which looks kind of like this:
As well as this:
At least for the time being.
And now it’s back to the five zillion things I have to get done before tomorrow’s launch.
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I completely forgot to post last week. But at least I have a good excuse. Soapbox, part of a set of products I’m working on for Restaurant Intelligence Agency, launched last Monday. I’ve been working with Neoteric Design on this project since last spring, and there’s still two more sections to go (in progress: a communications tool for chefs and restaurateurs, and a media service to connect journalists with what site members are doing). It’s one of my favorite professional projects so far—Ellen and the rest of the RIA team are really great to work with.
Other things:
We had a Calagator code sprint on Saturday, and finished up a bunch of previous work in progress. Changes you might notice: a tag cloud in the sidebar, and improved search functionality.
Kittens are still adorable.
My graphic design class at PNCA is going really well, but that’s another thing keeping me busy. One odd side effect: I’m paying much more attention to the use of type on just about everything I see now. The band posters plastered around our neighborhood are surprisingly slick.
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I’m late posting this week because yesterday I was getting fillings replaced (ow ow ow and they have to do the other side in a couple weeks) and work is super-busy because we’re trying to launch a big part of the project in the next couple of days.
So anyhow, here’s the kittens being cute:
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Last Monday we adopted two kittens from the Oregon Humane Society.
They’re named Kirk and Spock. No, we didn’t pick that. They were transferred from another shelter or clinic to OHS, and already had these names at that point.
But we’re keeping it for now because they seem to fit.
They’re five months old. Super cute, as kittens should be.
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The Portland Timbers 2010 season is now over, after losing to Vancouver in the playoffs. Now it’s on to MLS.
I think we’re ready.
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I have a stack of books I’m working my way through right now. I’ve finished An Artificial Night, Blackout, and Zero History in the last week, and Farewell, My Lovely is about half done. All of them have been great, in different ways. So I wanted to mention it in case someone else is wondering what to read next. There’s noir, fantasy, time-traveling science fiction, and present-day weirdness, and Boneshaker is probably next, to round things out with a side of steampunk. Good mix.
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Two busy weekends in a row, plus a full work schedule, plus starting an evening class (graphic design at PNCA), plus Sputnik wants so much attention he keeps waking us up in the middle of the night: we’re a little worn out. Fortunately this past weekend included a bit of out-of-town vacation, a trip to Vancouver BC for the Timbers’ last regular season game of the year (and last before they go to the MLS). I’ll have pictures posted soon. And maybe by then I’ll have rested up enough to write more too.
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In fact, the event went extremely well. I think this qualifies as the most successful WhereCamp in Portland yet. We had around 120 attendees from Portland and throughout the U.S. I’m completely exhausted now, but it was worth it.
More notes to follow soon, here and on the WhereCampPDX blog.
These are the things currently in some state of food-preservation effort after this weekend. The fridge is full of pickles, the counter is covered with tomato jars that need to be labeled and stored, and the kitchen table has two large stockpots with olives in brine (I have a bucket to move those into later today, so it can be stored somewhere more convenient).
Other events:
PublicMediaCamp is at OPB tomorrow night. I’m not sure what one talks about at PublicMediaCamp, but I do have a post-digital media spiel we could toss around.
The main event, of course, is WhereCampPDX, starting this Friday. We’re down to the last of the details that need arranging, and 110 people have registered so far. There’s still time to sign up if you haven’t yet.
Lucas and I both really appreciate all the kind words about Mudshark. Sputnik is climbing the walls without another cat to play with (he does that anyhow, but now it’s even worse) so we’ve started browsing the Humane Society listings with an eye to getting another kitty in a couple of weeks. This is how I discovered their interesting habit of naming kittens after food products. There was a whole set of Indian food kittens last week, plus a Tortellini and some other pastas, but most have found homes now.
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This week’s post is for Mudshark, who died on Friday at the young age of five. He was a really amazing cat, and I miss him very much.
When we got him he was a little over a year old and had been given the completely inappropriate name of “Dasher”. It was his second stay at the Humane Society (the first had been around Christmas, and apparently they were naming cats after reindeer). I heard him meowing from around the other side of the kennel area, and went to see which cat it was. I thought any kitty who was trying that hard to get our attention was worth a closer look.
It took seemingly forever to name him. Sputnik was easy—he was a squeaky fluffy ball of kitten who already could jump to knee level, and I think we figured out his name before we’d even gotten the cats home. But Mudshark eluded us, and we tried all sorts of things that didn’t work, until I thought of the Laurie Anderson song “Sharkey’s Day”, which reminded Lucas of Frank Zappa and the mudshark, and the combination stuck.
Mudshark was always a little awkward. He fattened up on Sputnik’s kitten chow, and took most of a year to figure out how to get onto the dining room table without help. For a while we thought he was destined to be a kitty who had to climb instead of jump. He liked to perch on top of Lucas’s recliner, as well as anything that would get him close to a window without having to balance too carefully.
He was not fond of sitting on my lap, unless it was winter and I had the laptop to warm things up.
Mudshark did not approve of people sleeping in late, taking naps in the bedroom during the day, or neighbors loitering in the entryway outside our apartment. He would express his displeasure with these things by howling, loudly, until everyone was where he thought we should be again.
He also liked to try to dart out the front door, despite being an indoor-only kitty and completely terrified of the outside. One of these times he got as far as running under the neighbor’s car, which turned out to already have another cat under it. He flattened himself and hissed and spit until I could drag him back out of there.
He had a similarly angry reaction to trips to the vet.
He and Sputnik napped together, played together, wrestled and chewed each other’s ears. They were like brothers.
Mudshark had a habit of lurking where he could see you, but you might not notice at first.
I keep expecting to see him across the room, staring at me, or hopping up on the couch for a nap.
It’s the end of a three day weekend, which I’ve spent reading, visiting family (including my brother whose birthday was on Friday), worrying about Mudshark, and playing with music software. I’ll probably have something more interesting to say next week, but in the meantime you can check out this mixtape I made.
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The past couple of weeks have been very stressful. Mudshark is not doing so well, and the process of figuring out what’s wrong has involved many inconclusive test results, one very conclusive finding (he has a large tumor in his chest), two trips to the vet to have fluid drained from his chest cavity, and much stress over whether he’s breathing okay, eating enough, and what our treatment options are.
Thankfully I can tell you that we’ve fed him two and a half syringes of prescription food tonight, that he’s dealing with the breathing problems as best as any cat could hope, and we have a appointment with a specialist for Wednesday. But it’s hard to not lose hope, and get bogged down watching him struggle.
I wrote a piece I liked this past week and I think I should share it here. It’s called “Why contribute to a community project when you can build your own silo?” and it’s about open data issues and open source projects and Portland food carts. I’ve been thinking about a lot of big picture questions about Portland and business and open source and why we do things the way we do. I hope I can provoke other developers into thinking about these issues as well.
The third thing for this post is that I went for a walk with Reid on Saturday down E Burnside and took a bunch of pictures. The weather was great for this, and it’s fun to slow down and just poke around.
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