And I Color Too: Friends

Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Vote for David Gillette!

My friend David Gillette, a talented artist and animator, has been nominated for a 2008 Yahoo! Video Award. Cast your vote for him here.

Friday, November 16, 2007

I was in Cornell giving a talk on The Mobile Phone as a (Massive) Data Collection Platform (slide deck here, 63.1 MB PowerPoint file).

Traveling to Ithaca, NY from Seattle, WA took me approximately 36 hours, though it was worth the wait (Ithaca is gorges, of course). I had a two-layover flight: from Seattle to Cincinnati, from Cincinnati to Detroit, and then finally Detroit to Ithaca. It's the second layover that ruined me. NWA indiscriminately bumped eight passengers off the flight from Detroit based purely on their ticket price (fine, understandable, it's the economy of seats). As a bargain shopper, I proudly had the cheapest ticket (thanks Expedia!). However, being bumped meant a night in a shoddy Detroit hotel (are there any others?) where I was promised but did not receive deodorant, toothbrush, and all other bathroom necessities. However, they did get me toothpaste... oh and a free round trip ticket on NWA (which would only be indicative of times to come).

On my way back from Ithaca, I had a slightly more streamlined flightplan: Ithaca to Detroit and from Detroit to Seattle. My departing flight out of Ithaca was supposed to leave around 6:30AM. I arrived with a fellow graduate student, who just happened to be taking the same flight out and had thus driven us both to the airport. While checking in, I observed the person to our direct left arguing with the ticket agent--it appeared she had just been bumped from our flight. I immediately thought, "uh, oh, not again." Sure enough, my colleague and I were both bumped off this flight as well (yep, another free round trip ticket on NWA). This time, however, I was a seasoned bumpee and thus I negotiated for a first class ticket to Seattle and a free breakfast (on top of the round trip voucher). The only downside was that the departing flight took out of Syracuse instead of Ithaca. We took a one hour cab ride on NWA's dime to Syracuse where I was met with an accusatory stare and some deriding comments from an NWA ticket agent who asked me why I wasn't checking in 45 minutes before my departure. I was too sick and tired to argue.

Needless to say, this was the worst air travel I have ever experienced. Thanks NWA! I should note, though, that the two round trip ticket vouchers paired with the first class ticket back to Seattle definitely mitigated my troubles (as it was meant to) though I can say I would have much preferred to achieve my original flight plan in both directions.

Touring Campus
Given my flight debacle, I didn't have as much time to tour Cornell and the surrounding area. Jofish was kind enough to quickly walk me around on the night of my arrival. The next three pictures were taken from the sixth floor of the Johnson Museum building. The fourth one is a photograph I snapped while walking around campus before my talk.

Information Science Building

Hanging Out After Talk

First Class Return Flight

First class food. Salad with fresh vegetables, a warm roll,
fresh fruit, white wine and a Dove chocolate ice cream bar.

yum!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Typical Day in the HCI Lab

When your research is this bright...

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Dave Climbs Mountain, Summits

One of my best friends from high school came to visit me in Seattle. I had long planned to take him on a hike of Mount Pilchuck, a favorite of mine since moving here in 2004. Our other option was Mount Rainier, however a quick check of their website noted snow conditions on the roads and trails so we went with the safer bet. Plus, Pilchuck, in my opinion, offers some of the best views of the North Cascades and the Puget Sound of any hike--and it's fairly low effort. I'd never hiked Pilchuck in the fall, only the summer, so we ran into a few (slightly) unexpected weather-related issues.

The Mount Pilchuck trail is 6 miles round trip with a 2166 ft elevation gain.

The trail starts out below the alpine line with small stream crossings and lush vegetation.

After much debate, we decided to ford the river
(ferries were not within site).

We were probably 0.5 miles into the trail when we began hiking through
low clouds (fog). It created great ambience but I knew at a cost of
seeing the great views Pilchuck had to offer.

The first signs of snow... little did we know...

Dave is holding up pretty well at the 1.0 mile mark.

Snow accumulation continues to increase as we climb.

Some breaks in the clouds allow us to see a partial view of the valley.

The Pilchuck trail can be somewhat strenuous because
of its constant elevation gain.

Another break in the clouds allows us to see what we're up against.

Starting to tire, probably about 3/4ths of the way there (though
admittedly I had been telling Dave that for the past 40 minutes of
the hike to motivate him).

Dave's a trooper hiking through 1.5 feet of slightly packed snow
with only tennis shoes. At this elevation, it was snowing.

After about 2.5 hours of hiking, we made it to the top.

As you can see, the clouds were dense obscuring the 360 degree
panoramic view that typically includes Mount Rainier,
the Puget Sound, and the North Cascades.

I had Dave take this picture because those rocks behind me are the
same ones I am standing on in the picture below
(which I hiked with Danyel in August of 2006).