I went to Richmond to volunteer for Occupational Therapy in early August. Due to a mix-up, my 2 hr (each way) commute which included a mile walk on a highway was for naught. :-(
Richmond is a dreary dreary place. I could not find a single structure that did not have endemic peeling paint, there was no ornamentation of any kind on any structure or person. At the Richmond BART station, a description on a prominent monument, the gleaming gateway to the city, touted Richmond’s heyday some 70 years ago and actively renounced all claims of current livability. I do not feel compelled to return.
Megan and I are back from the northlands of Minnesota feeling much refreshed! We’ll have pictures and stories soon!
Here is a hint… Our home for almost two weeks:
and click to view it in 3D wigglevision! 
If you like machine performance, Kal’s shows are always cool. Join me?
https://www.facebook.com/events/517752421649461/
Industrial ROBOTICS art PERFORMANCE in San Francisco
Friday, August, 23, 2011
8:00PM until Midnight
1043 Marin St.,
S.F., Ca. 94124
cross street Illinois St.
General Admission: $10 or what u can pay…
Students and Seniors: $7
Live Audience Experiments with Machines and Robots
WITH! Dj Big Daddy, tip him!
YOU VOLUNTARILY ASSUME THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH BY ATTENDING THIS PERFORMANCE!
Here is some discussion about my work: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/artists-on-artists-chris-johanson-on-the-apocalyptic-machines-of-kal-spelletich/?_r=1
and;
http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=4525
I am writing to you from just north of St. Paul Minnesota! Megan and I will be spending the next 10 days or so on a private island on the Canadian border near International Falls, MN. Very good friends of Megan own this tiny island on Rainy Lake. We are looking forward to totally destressing and reconnecting with each other, ourselves and the universe! I think they have electricity, but no TV, no cellphones (not even 1G!), and the internet is over a phone line, Ha! So what will we do? Sleep, eat, read, play, swim, talk, look at the sunset, look at the sunrise, look at the sun high in the sky, listen to the loons, maybe catch a real thunderstorm, and maybe maybe maybe see the northern lights!
I’ll check my voicemail maybe sometimes. But don’t count on it. And email not at all!
To start things out, we are staying at a friend’s house. Tomorrow’s breakfast is promising!
My dad has had his 1951 Packard 250 Convertible with Ultramatic transmission since 1986. It was an amazing luxury car then and it has only gotten more spectacular as the years pass by.
As times change, he is selling the car. The last few years, it has mostly sat in a garage waiting for him to come up to New Jersey, something he doesn’t do as often as he used to. So, here it goes, back into the universe. You can find the most beautiful car in the world for sale on Hemmings
The Hemmings listing reads like so:
1951 Packard 250 Convertible
Location: Hackettstown, New Jersey 07840
Mileage: 36000
Trans: Auto
Condition: Excellent
Exterior: Packard Cream (yellow)
Interior: Red
Description: Original 1951 Packard 250 Convertible
Solid car, Excellent condition, Packard Cream (pale yellow) with Red interior, All Power, Ultramatic, Boot and Tonnheau Cover, Radials
Second owner (purchased and restored in 1986)
Voted Most Beautiful Car of 1951
Price: $32,000
Melissa took this little Vine.co video of Dad driving the car in August 2013
I’ve been doing a bit more volunteering in Occupational Therapy. I’m volunteering at the Spectrum School in Hayward, a non-public school for kids with autism. It’s been a really good, albeit intense experience.
Can you help me find adult or geriatric OT where I can visit and volunteer at? I’m still looking for a bit more volunteering.
Just finished taking a Library Research class at College of San Mateo. This “A” (hurray!) will push out some older grades on my “last 60 units” list, bringing my GPA from a 3.67 to a 3.87
I’ve got to start studying for the GRE again soon! I’m hoping to take the GRE in September.
I’ve got got rewrite my application to let it shine brightly.
I’m hoping to apply to San Jose State on October 1st when admissions open.
We can be quite handy at the Crucible!
I’ve been teaching several classes in the last few weeks. Above is one project from a kid in my Radical Robots class. It works quite well for a prototype! And Thank you to Peter Moore for the photo!
Other recent teaching:
- A very successful Workshop Weekend: Arduino. 7 teachers, 30 students, 1 intense weekend! See my bio.
- Flame Effects Intensive at the Crucible last weekend. 7 students: lots of propane!
- Arduino class at the Crucible. Ongoing for the next few Tuesdays. I asked if they wanted to go meticulously or burn their brains. From their slight deer-in-headlights expressions they are often wearing, sometimes I think they chose poorly ;-). They’re enjoying it and learning a lot though!
- Electromechanics for Everything at the Crucible
- Several rounds of Radical Robots at the Crucible
Here is a suggestion I just sent the Android Gmail team:
If an email sender has been previously approved to display images, the images should be loaded when the email is downloaded to my phone.
Right now the images are loaded when the email is viewed for the first time. This means I have to wait for the images to download and depending on my internet connection that could be a while. If I’m checking my email where there is no service (on subways, elevators, about 1/2 of Berkeley CA) the experience totally sucks.
If images are pre-downloaded, it will break “web bug” functionality built into email images. But web bugs have never been a web standard, just a clever, if unreliable hack at gaining metrics. If you’re totally excited about it, you could build a new web standard for when web bugs get viewed. Also, nowadays, if a user cares enough to have emails go to their inbox (and not unsubscribing, or marking it as spam), they are probably interested in reading the email, so web bugs aren’t that important any more.
Thanks for your consideration!
Groupme is a group-texting app for smartphones and dumbphones. I use it all the time to chat with Megan because it’s faster and more reliable than texting with my Virgin Mobile phone (ugh, I know).
I just sent a message to Groupme support with my biggest gripe:
Since the promise of Groupme is (from the homepage) “the best way to chat with everyone you know”… “works on every device”… It would be great if the emoji were similar on the 3 main platforms me and my friends use it on: iphone, android, website. It is frustrating when the emoji I send isn’t the emoji they receive.
Keep rockin
