Creatively HOT

It's definitely summer time now! And it is HOT! In our little corner of the planet, the temperatures are totally soaring, much higher than normal. Now, I realize we cannot complain at all... in other parts of the country, this is just a normal day. But for Oregon, it doesn't get beastly hot on a regular basis. Normal summer temperatures reaching the mid 80's is what we are used to. But for the next 5 days, we should in the low hundreds. That's dang hot for us! And since most people don't have air conditioners in our city... that makes for some grumpy, hot people when the temperatures spike.

But, we do what we need to, to stay cool. Drink lots of water, head to the swimming pool, eat soft serve ice cream, and modify our play structures..

Modify play structures? Yup. It seems that having extreme heat conditions causes our minds to do some wacky things. On most days we would look at the back yard play structure built for the kids and not think anything of it. We'd look at the swimming pool sitting in the corner and think to ourselves "we should clean that out someday". But take a beastly hot day and suddenly... in true Calvin fashion.. the creativity flows.

I discovered this phenomenon a few weeks back, after coming home to find the family in the backyard. My wife had carefully rigged up the pool in such a way that it sat just below the play structure, so that when the kids came down the slide, they'd land in the big pool of water. Suddenly, the hot day wasn't so bad as the kids focused on their new "water park" in the backyard.

Same thing happened yesterday when we went over to our friends, the Gardner's House, for a barBQ. And with their extra large structure, slide and pool, he was able to raise the slide up in the air, now resting on blocks (much to his wife's eye rolling) so that the kids could come sailing down the slide at top speed, and almost FALL into the water, creating giant splashes. This now serves a dual purpose.. it keeps the kids wet, cool and distracted from the heat, AND it provides hours of entertainment for the adults, watching the kids crash, flop, scrape and land in all sorts of bizarre ways.

I just find it interesting that extreme conditions can bring out the kids in us all, as we work to creatively solve the problems that we don't have to face everyday. Maybe we need more heat... hmmmmm. On second thought... maybe not. I'll just go curl up next to the air conditioner before its time to leave for the weekend camping trip... nothing like a campfire in the 100 degree heat! I'll be curious as to what creativity shows up there!

Teenage Creativity

Ahhh. It's always a wonderful way to start my day, doing double takes on the highway. I passed this sign sitting in front of the little Coburg market and actually had to turn around and go back to take the picture. It's just nice to see a little bit of teenage creativity demonstrated in the community once in awhile. It's... very... Calvin like.

Getting Thrashed

One of the things that I admire so much about Calvin, the comics character, is his wonderful ability to get in trouble in some insanely creative ways. His character has taught me a great lesson: If you are going to get in trouble... do it right! And by all means.. at least have fun doing it!

As most people who know me know.. I love being a prankster. The office "practical joke" guy.. the guy who when he walks by you and grins, people get uneasy. Got to keep people on their toes! Now, I don't go out and seek out practical jokes. I am more the kind of guy who simply takes advantage of situations presented to him and then runs amok with them.

Today was a perfect example! Today was the last day for one of our long time employees, so most of the department went out to lunch with her to wish her off in her new endeavor. While at lunch, one of the guys who works for me accidently left his keys behind at the table. It took me all of .25 seconds to get out of my chair and snatch them.. After all.. I wouldn't want them to fall into the wrong hands.. :)

That key leaving then started the conversation with the few of us remaining.. "If we have his keys.. we have his van... what could we do with his van? Where could we put it?" Quickly our sinister little plan was launched. It was perfect... simple to execute, no risk to the vehicle or property, and wouldn't take any time away from our workday. In our building, the front half of the building is offices, the back half is an RV production area, with the big garage doors. In between the areas are the building's bathrooms. This week the plant is closed and so the production area sits empty and unused. The plan: When Brian got up and walked back to use the bathroom in the afternoon, there he would find his van parked.. inside the building, next to the bathroom. That's about the time he would realize he had no keys, and then come hunting me down wondering how the heck his van got in the building. That was the PLAN. Now it was time to execute.

My accomplice in this was my friend, Zak. I was to simply get in the van using our acquired keys, drive it around back to the other side of the security fence, and to one of the large bay doors. Zak would meet me there, open the door from the inside, we'd pull in the van, smile and return to our desks for the afternoon.

What we were not expecting was Thrash.. the security guard. With production shut down this week, he must have had very little to do, and suddenly we became his big project. Thrash takes his job... very seriously, a good trait for chief of security for a billion dollar manufacturing company. But sometimes.. he can take things a little too seriously.

The plan worked as planned, I carefully drove the van through the security gate, no questions asked, then around to the side of the building where Zak was waiting. He opened the door, I drove in... almost done... that's when we heard the tire screech of the the security van pulling in behind us, and out came a very red faced, yelling Thrash.

"What do you think you are doing?! You can't bring company vehicles back here, let alone park them in buildings!, He barked. Seeing the intensity that he had in coming after us, for our seemingly simple joke, set Zak into "High School student smarmy attitude" mode.

"No problem, then" he replied "It's not a company vehicle."

Our catching him getting mixed up about his own security policies.. eh... didn't go over well and really set him off into a tirade. We understood this as a simple fix. Ok, so we couldn't park the van there, no problem, it was obviously going to cause a problem, and so we tried to comply and move the van back out to the parking lot. Simple misunderstanding.. no problem.. abort mission. And obviously Thrash had no concept of a little prank.

So we quickly moved the van and continued on with our day. End of story? Not even... This is Thrash we are talking about here... the "Uber Security Guard". Before we could blink, Larry had written up the incident, greatly exaggerating the facts, and had started e-mailing this out to various company management, including the head of our department. In his report, I came rocketing through the gate "at a high rate of speed" (not true), we broke into part of a building we had no permission to be in (also not true), we laughed at him, cocked an attitude, and refused to comply with his instructions. He was demanding apologies, or administrative action against us.

Now, the good thing in all of this is... well, people know Thrash.. They know he can be a bit over zealous in his efforts. This is the security guard who will attempt to pull over company employees on the freeway for speeding.. So when this was questioned, Zak and I told the simple plan of what we were doing. Our boss laughed at our plan, thought it was quite creative and then shook his head. But it still took an afternoon of trying to apologize to Thrash, and explaining a seemingly simple joke to any and everyone who had received the e-mails. Bottom line, is was a simple misunderstanding with someone wanting to turn it into a huge issue.

So.. let's evaluate.. would it have been a great joke? Sure... very entertaining. Did I get into REAL trouble? No, not even close. Instead I made a lot of managers smile and laugh upon hearing the tale. And did I have fun getting into this "trouble" with the red faced Thrash? Heck yeah! Watching this all unfold over the course of an afternoon was very entertaining!

In the end, things still worked. Watching Brian realize he did not have his keys.. rewarding... Watching him walk confused around the parking lot, trying to remember where he parked... priceless! (We ultimately parked the van in a different lot). So all in all, a very successful, entertaining day, living the life of Calvin!

But just a warning to all of you driving I-5 near Coburg.. If you see a round, gruff guy screaming down the freeway in his little golf cart, light on top spinning away in an attempt to pull over some speeding employee... watch out.. THRASH could be coming! You could be next!

Finding Foo

It was yet another day of Web Design World in Seattle. Today was also a great day for ideas, all the more to drive my team nuts with when I get back, although after this afternoon, I don't ever want to hear the word "accessibility" again.. yikes.

Once I got out of the afternoon sessions, I was tired... my brain was full and too many web ideas were swirling in my head. So my evening plan was simple: relax, take it easy and do something I hadn't done before. So after heading out of the convention center, I decided to walk down to the Space Needle to go check out the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, a museum that shares space with the EMP (Experience Music Project) in the world's funkiest looking building.

The museum is very well done, filled with all manor of Sci-fi geekiness. I had a good time checking out all kinds of Star Wars memorabilia, as well as stuff from every other science fiction movie in the universe, all lumped together in a variety of multimedia displays. From E.T. to Battlestar Gallactica, to Aliens, to full size T-800's from Terminator, this place had it all, displayed in a fun way. After finally leaving at closing time, I was starving and desperately needing food.

By about 9:15, I had worked my way back towards my hotel. I had just picked up my dinner.. food to go, as I just wanted to get back to my hotel room and relax, with time left in my evening to soak in the hot tub upstairs. As I was walking down the street, dinner in one hand, camera in the other, I passed the Paramount Theater, 2 blocks from my hotel. It became quickly obvious that something was going on tonight. Surrounding the theater were 4 large tour busses, and 3 semi trucks that signal the arrival of a big show. That's when I passed a guy on the corner who yelled "you want tickets?"

I said "to what?" to which he replied "Foo Fighters!"

My brain stopped momentarily.. "The Foo Fighters are playing... HERE... TONIGHT?!" I thought to myself... But then my brain quickly turned back on with the realization that tickets to these things, especially from a guy standing on the corner.. were VERY expensive. But I was curious..

"How much?" I yelled back.

"$50 a ticket" was his return. Not even a temptation... sure it would be a good show, but I knew I would have a very difficult time explaining that expense to my wife! So I said no thanks and continued on.

But the guy was apparently getting desperate. "Ok, $20!" he yelled. For a second, my brain went "$20 for a concert! That's less than I paid for concert tickets in high school!", but again, my financial brain took over and said "noooo, better not."

Finally, he yelled "Man, I just need these gone. $10!" At that point, instinct kicked in and I immediately said "You're on!" Out came my wallet and a $10 bill, and suddenly, I was going to see the Foo Fighters.

Now, things suddenly got tricky as there I was with a Foo Fighters ticket in one hand and my to-go dinner and a digital camera in my other hand.. two things that just don't go with concerts. So I made the sprint to the hotel to dump my stuff off and head back to the theater. By the time I got there, the show had already started, but I had only missed a couple of songs.

What I didn't realize when making this spur of the moment decision, was how well I spent that 10 bucks. For one, I had a FANTASTIC seat, dead center, right in the middle of my row. Second, this was not a normal Foo Fighters rock show. They were not in their typical sold out arena.. they were in the little Paramount Theater. Turns out this was meant to be a smaller, more intimate gathering, as they were doing an all acoustic show.. one of my favorite things to hear!

And what a show it was!! Due to the acoustic format, the band was much bigger than normal: Instead of the 4 guys in the group, there were 9 all together on stage. Amongst the musicians added in were are violinist named Petra (who bears a striking resemblance to Natalie Merchant in both looks and voice) who did vocals on 2 songs. Also joining the band was Joe Walsh's drummer, who call really "thrash on the triangle" as Dave Grohl put it.

What I just found amazing was during the encore. It was so simple.. Dave Grohl came out, standing alone on the stage with his acoustic guitar in hand. By himself, he played and sang two songs, "Best of You" and "Everlong", two typically very heavy songs. But he did them solo, and they sounded INCREDIBLE! The full band joined in 3/4ths of the way through Everlong to finish the show in style.

So my "quiet", "simple" night turned out to be quite an evening, cool sci-fi sights, and great music! Now, I just need to get some sleep so I can start again tomorrow, to finish the conference and catch my flight home.

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July 14th UPDATE: While surfing through YouTube, I found several videos that show what this concert looked like and highlight two songs. Ok, the video was NOT shot at my show in Seattle, but the night before in Vancouver. But it still gives a glimpse at what things looked like, as they had the exact same setup and setlist. Click to watch "Next Year" (The Ed Theme) and "Everlong".

Seattle Stay

Greetings from Seattle! Yes, this week I have transported myself from my quiet little town in Oregon to smack dab in the middle of downtown Seattle.. surrounded on all sides by big city life. Rather than spend my evenings looking out at quiet farm land, my view is skyscrapers and the Puget Sound from my 35 story hotel.

But don't get me wrong, I am not complaining.. I like Seattle. Well... I like it to visit, not to live. It's a fun city.. lots of shopping (especially around the hotel with Nike Town and Gameworks across the street), movie theaters, restaurants and awesome views.

So why Seattle? It's a work trip, for a 3 day training conference. A gathering of west coast web developers and designers where we can learn all the latest trends and emerging technologies. For outsiders listening in, these sessions would be like listening to Russian, with speakers going on about CSS, AJAX, Web 2.0, XHTML, Photoshop adjustment highlights, Web Accessibility, etc. But for those of us in this business, it is an exciting and scary opportunity to see what may be coming to affect our sites in the very near future. Already, I have a large list of things I want my team to start experimenting with when I get back to the office on Thursday.. They hate it when I go to these things.. I get all sorts of ideas that they then have to deal with.

Seattle so far has been busy. No real time to rest and catch up on sleep as there are too many restaurants to try, too many areas to explore, too many things to see! Last night I was near the Space Needle at one of my favorite little spots called the Icon Grill. They make an amazing Mac and Cheese. (Yes, I went to a restaurant for Mac and Cheese!). Tonight, after our evening session, it was dinner on the waterfront, a treadmill run looking out over downtown Seattle from our 35th floor health club and a wonderful hot tub soak.

Tomorrow: Day 2 of Web Design World, and more Seattle fun.. may have to go spend some loot at the waterfront "pirate" store, as my family is in full "pirate mode" after seeing Dead Man's Chest this past weekend.

Ahhhhh.. business travel.

Rockets Red Glare

The same thing seems to happen every year.. the fourth of July absolutely sneaks up on me. For me.. a "holiday person", the kind that has to celebrate every holiday in full, decorations and all, it can be hard for those that sneak up on me. It means no time to plan my decoration schemes, last minute runs to the store for my annual apple pie, and of course the purchases of all manner of explosives.

For our family, our traditions are pretty set in regards to Independence Day... we take advantage of a day off work to rest and relax at home and then head over to "Fireworks Bridge" as it is referred to year round, to stake our claim for the evening fireworks show in Harrisburg. As always, I am totally blown away by what a quality fireworks show our little community can pull off, and the display was outstanding, despite poor Little Calvin getting burned in the eye, while getting a little over zealous with his sparklers. Ouch!

But this year, the holiday was different than most. This year, there was an odd buzz in the house that just has not been there in past Fourth of July celebrations. Why? Because this year, I could finally return to my "space geek" roots and enjoy a space shuttle launch the way I used to as a kid.

I have seen many shuttle launches in my day, each one different in its own way, each one spectacular. I don't know what it is that just gets me, whether its the fire, the explosiveness, the danger, or simply the power to explore the universe in reality, not in movie mode. I have seen the televised launches many times, I have seen a launch live and in person (what an amazing site THAT is) and I have vivid memories of the Challenger incident that shook us all, so many years ago.

But what seemed really fun, was the early shuttle launches, the ones back in the day when the shuttle was brand new and the whole country was mesmerized by the idea. I remember as a young kid, happily waking up a 4 AM to watch all the national coverage. It wasn't just the launch.. it was the whole process. From the suiting up of the astronauts, to their arrival at the orbiter, to the launch prep, to the final launch. Sure, it took hours to see the whole process. But when the shuttle finally launched towards the sky (typically at around 7 AM in the time zone I grew up in) it was the culmination of a whole process, not just a singular event that I could catch on CNN in passing.

Over the years, as the shuttle launching became more of a routine and as the launches looked more and more of the same thing, the focus shifted.. just another take off. Why bother with all the details.. Did it make it off the ground safely? Good. move on.

Yesterday, however was cool for several reasons. For one, whether standing on a warm sandy beach in Florida watching a live launch, or sitting in front of my TV, I just love watching a launch. And, this was the first one I was able to watch with Little Calvin, now a space nut himself, having inherited all of my space posters and shuttle models that he proudly displays in his room. This was an opportunity to do things the way I once did: To not just turn on the TV for 30 seconds to watch it quickly go up, but to go back to enjoying the entire process once again.

And so, early in the morning, the coverage began... although now brought to us via the Internet. Again, I got to enjoy the suiting up, the strapping into the shuttle, the system checks, listening to the astronauts communicating with ground control doing their various tests, all in preparation for the final mid-day launch. Yes, I had my concerns this time around, with some top NASA engineers disputing that the shuttle was ready. But how great was it to once again watch the fire, and explosiveness of the shuttle firing off the launch pad, heading towards space, with a 5 year old sitting next to me, knowing the process, but still asking a million questions at his typical 900 mph speed. "When do the rockets fall off? When does the external tank fall off? When are they technically in space? When do they lose gravity? Why can't they land today too?"

It was just one of those "me as a child, meets me as a grownup" kind of surreal experiences, realizing how much I have learned over the years, but how little I have changed, and how much of the child like wonder I still love to enjoy.

So to the team at NASA and the crew of STS-121: Thanks for restoring my enjoyment of the space program, and making my Independence Day just that much cooler. Sure, fireworks are amazing, but nothing beats that Rockets Red Glare.