Another Idea

Since I got a new Canon SLR as a graduation preset from friends, I have been using an orange hat from Jorn's closet as a camera case. This is a side-effect of being both too poor and lazy to actually get a real decent camera case. On the upside, a hat is very flexible and easy to remove, much more so than traditional bulky camera bags, no matter how small or light they are. Once I developed a method for myself, it worked pretty well except for the issue of padding and camera protection...which leads me to my point and idea. I think it would be great to design a "soft" camera case with padding in just the right places, squashable, and out of the way when not in use; I imagine something like a laptop sleeve. I came up with some functional requirements. I hope one of these days, I will get my act together and actually come up with some prototypes.

Functional requirements:
- Easy to secure & remove (velcro?)
- Soft and flexible
- Padded in key locations

Ok, I just checked online. Apparently it does exist (ugly?!), but I still think it would be a nice DIY project and good gift idea for nerdy camera carrying friends. How hard is it to stitch neoprene?

Digital Scrap Book

These last two days, I have finally been back to snooping around on the internet and catching up on blogs that I have missed. I have found a lot of cool stuff that I would like to remember or bookmark in some visual way. Even with all of the possibilities of bookmarking through delicious and browser bookmarks, I still find that I would like some sort of program to exist where I can click and drag images out of the browser so that I can spatially organize them either immediately or later with commentary and text boxes...some equivalent of a digital scrapbook. It would be important that I could organize the material in a unique to the content, visually striking, immediate way (mix of collaging and graphic design?), dependent on the nature of my content.


*example of a collage someone made in one of my user studies

Of course this is all do-able in Adobe InDesign or something, but it defeats the purpose of being able to make these spontaneous mind-mapesque visual notes. To consider the physical analogy I to have the rush of tearing up parts of magazines so I can paste them into a blank book and make big messy notes that I can look back on later (without the regret that always comes with tearing up nice publications).

The drawback of just bookmarking is that I can't make the mental connection I need later to remember what was so inspiring in the first place, and if I did remember I would still have to wade through the whole website. Maybe what I am looking for already exists...but maybe this is an idea for a future project.

I am now trying to make this work with my BookSmart bookmaking program, but all the crucial functions I want are missing.

Graduation + Halloween

It's been awhile since I actually graduated, but I finally got some pictures of my party thanks to Theo and Jorn's dad.

The actual graduation part passed in a blur. I was totally stressed out in the morning because I opted to sleep early instead of finishing my presentation that night. I only had to present at 1:45pm the next day, but found myself at 12:45 still making slides. At the university, I was pleased at the turnout of people; Inga, Alexander, Alex, and Lemke had rushed back from Eindhoven to be there, and I felt like I had a lot of support (and a lot of people to potentially disappoint). I am not usually one to be very nervous at presentations, but as I talked it seemed as if I was a partial 3rd person observer floating a bit above myself as I babbled. I watched myself on several occasions pause significantly at an inappropriate moment to gather my thoughts or futilely try to read my 12pt font notes in the dark. Eventually I got into the flow of things and as the quality of my slides went down, I finally got a hold of myself and finished(smoothly?). Afterwards, my mentors spent half an hour trying to extricate my diploma from the locked secretary office. The waiting time was interminable. Every bump and shuffle at the doorway caused my heart leap in fear. Eventually the ordeal was over; it was time to begin stressing about my Halloween party.

We didn't get much time to prepare for the party, but I was treated to a nice dinner at the de Kurk by Jorn's parents. Sean was also there (visiting for a week from the US, en route to more exotic places). We had time for dessert and then we rushed directly to the boat to start decorating. Guests did not show up until around 10 or 11 so we had plenty of time to decorate. It turns out Kakee is amazing at making spiderweb sculptures. The rest is documented in pictures.

The party was fun and passed in a blur. Daniel was dressed as Dracula and kept up appearances by drinking red dyed beer all evening. Many other characters had also shown up, including the preacher and devil's advocate. The beer ran out at 4am, and we polished off the rest of the liquor, not bothering to make even mixes anymore. Even after we were totally out of alcohol, the party went on for another hour or two.

Sander and I closed up at 6 in the morning. We ended up cleaning up most of the mess in a drunken stupor while Jorn slept peacefully on his chair.

When we were done, we wandered out into the morning fog to fall into our respective beds for a few hours...until the real cleanup.



photo by Theo Howard

In Bruges

This weekend I hitched a ride to Bruges with the boys from 1upToys. They were on their way to a newly opened Carrefour near the city to demonstrate their V-beat toys. I was dropped off at the edge of the city center around 10am, and for the next 7 or so hours I wandered around the fairytale city that is Bruges.

It was a bright but cold day when I arrived at the border of the city. I was psyched to try out my new camera a la tourist style. The city did not disappoint with its picture perfect canals and archetypal Flemish architecture. As I walked through the streets I must have passed by a million old churches, chocolatiers and lace shops. Influenced by my graduation project on revealing secret places in old cities, I kept trying to go down every small alleyway to see what kind of places laid in wait for me. I didn't find too many amazing secret locations, but I did squeeze myself through a couple charming alleyways. Learning to read Utrecht made me hyper-aware of all the symbols engraved and embedded around the city. One recurrent symbol was the crescent moon.

The film, In Bruges, was still pretty fresh in my memory, so I tried to compare the physical city with the scenes I remembered from the film. It was fun to stumble into the market square and think "oh! this is the belfry tower where *** fell". At points I did feel like I was in a sort of purgatory, especially near the end of the day when I was extremely tired and cold. The city was large enough that I always felt a bit lost and overwhelmed. My horrible sense of direction and refusal to read maps made my walk through the city strange and circular...always seeing new things while unintentionally revisiting the old things.

Before traveling to Bruges, Daniel made me a list of things to do in the city, including braadwurst on the square and a tour of a beer brewery. On arriving at the market square, I dutifully followed Daniel's instructions and ate an amazing broodje braadwurst with mustard. The flavors are indescribable, and my mouth is watering as I write this. One regret I have on visiting Bruges is that I did not climb the belfry tower.

Past the square, I ended up walking into several delightful courtyards, past boat tours (much more charming and enticing than those in Delft), and an antique flea market by the water. Around 1pm, I arrived at the beer brewery and bar/restaurant de Halve Man, recommended by Daniel. I took a tour around the facility and learned about the brewing process. One fact that stuck out was that Belgian specialty beers often use coriander as an ingredient for it's hangover preventative and aphrodisiac properties. This made me wonder if Michel (great hater of coriander in his food) would still like his Leffe if he knew...At the end of my tour I was given a complimentary Brugse Zot (brewed at the brewery) and was sent on my way back to the city.

For the rest, I just wandered through the city as it got colder and darker. I took a break and popped into Our Lady's Church, did some shopping, and went to drink coffee in an unmemorable bar by the city library while waiting for the boys to join me. In the evening I was joined by Ronald and Marcel for a nice dinner in a small Italian restaurant. Needless to say, I left the city with a belly full of good food and good feelings.

Pictures to come...

Recommended to do in Bruges:
Eat a broodje braadwurst on the market square
Climb the Belfry tower
Visit and take a tour of the Halve Man brewery
Take a boat tour (something like E6.50 for an hour)

Next travel destinations:
Paris (Nov 29)
Jamaica (Dec 8)
Raleigh, NC; Washington DC; New York, NY (Dec 17th)