i keep a diary

December, 2014

The December Roundup

Here are all the photos I took in December 2014!

Tuesday, December 2nd

Throwing I Ching hexagrams...
i ching
...watching the Peep.
peep show ˆ tv
Appreciating the wit of Super Hans.
peep show ˆ tv

Friday, December 5th

On Friday night, I went out to Brooklyn in the pouring rain in an attempt to get into Vice's 20th Anniversary party.
vice
I thought I was going to have to wait outside in the rain for hours with the rest of Williamsburg, but Kim spotted Karen and I standing outside in line from inside the Vice employee bus, and magically stopped and picked us up and we cut the line and got driven right into the party! Thanks, Kim! Smoothest move, ever!
wristband
jared, jeet, josh a
Found my crew!
jared ˆ jeet ˆ josh a
jeet, lizzy
Ran into Lizzie & Gurj!
vice ˆ jeet ˆ lizzy
Lots of cool bands played.
band
Got to see the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. But the real reason I'd dragged myself out into the rain was because I heard that....
band
jarvis
...Jarvis was going to play! So happy I finally got to see him perform!
best ˆ jarvis

Sunday, December 7th

This well-researched book about the Bush family really changed the way I look at the world. Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years (Catchy title, too!)
book
Literally exploded my mind. Check out the blurbs on the back. Worth reading if you're open to the idea that the world is different than the media has led you to believe.
book

Monday, December 8th

Ghost trick or treat scribble at the 8th Street NR subway.
ghost ˆ graffiti ˆ halloween

Wednesday, December 10th

maddy
On Wednesday I got an extra hound for a while!
edie ˆ maddy

Friday, December 12th

jane anne
On Friday, I went to Jane birthday dinner! Happy birthday, Jane Anne!
birthday ˆ jane anne
jane anne
After we went to a bar in the West Village...
birthday ˆ jane anne
...and played Connect 4!

Sunday, December 14th

I liked this book so much I started buying extra copies of it to hand out to other (nerdy) people I know! Highly recommended!

best ˆ book
maddy
I also got this very excellent handset for my cell phone!
dogs ˆ edie ˆ phone ˆ maddy
I loved talking on the phone when I had a land line! But holding a cell phone isn't anywhere near as comfortable.
phone
Was excited to plug this bag boy in...
e9th apt ˆ living room ˆ phone
...and make some phone calls from my phone-calling chair!
e9th apt ˆ living room ˆ phone
Veggie Japanese.
maddy
Big pillow for a lil dog.
asleep ˆ maddy
maddy
Bignosio.
asleep ˆ maddy

Monday, December 15th

Monday morning! Last half-week of work with my client before taking off the rest of the year!
computer ˆ flux capacity ˆ singleplatform ˆ window ˆ work

Wednesday, December 17th

Got my Arduino starter kit in the mail on Wednesday.
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer ˆ packaging
Arduino is like computer legos. You can add electrical components to a circuit-board that is controlled by a microprocessor you can easily write code for!
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ packaging
Also arrived in the mail is a bathroom organizer to replace this hot mess.
bathroom
Oooh, la la. Making my terrible bathroom....
bathroom
...a little bit less terrible at a time.
bathroom
Stayed up late into the night trying out the different projects in the Arduino book...
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer
...it really is just like really complicated Legos.
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer
First you've got to go through the hardware and find all the correct pieces for the project you want...
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer
...then you spend time wiring them into the "bread board." (Let's you easily build a circuit by just plugging them into the board without having to solder all the connections.)
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer
Wiring up three different LED lights...
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer
...and two different buttons.
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer
After finishing the hardware portion, you open the Arduino code editor and write code that you can upload to the computer-controller.
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer
With the circuit built and the code uploaded, it's time to TEST THE BUILD!
DIY ˆ arduino ˆ computer
Push a button and the red light ALSO lights up. GREAT SUCCESS! (This is basically the HELLO, WORLD of hardware).
DIY ˆ arduino

Saturday, December 20th

Took Maddy for a stroll through La Plaza and noticed that someone had recently knit a sweater for one of the trees inside! So cute!
la plaza cultural ˆ sweater ˆ tree
I'm not 100% sure, but maybe this is some of London Kaye's earlier yarn-bombing work?
la plaza cultural ˆ sweater ˆ tree
Later that evening I took the train out to Clark, NJ...
grandma
...to attend my grandma's 90th birthday!
grandma
lindsey, uncle wayne
Made my way towards the back of the restaurant...
lindsey ˆ uncle wayne
aunt sue, grandma, kristie, uncle nalin
...and found our party!
birthday ˆ aunt sue ˆ grandma ˆ kristie ˆ uncle nalin
There was a musician playing tunes in the next room...
liam c
...and Lindsey and Chad's kids went in to listen and dance!
liam c
aunt sue, grandma
Ninety candles, here we go!
birthday ˆ cake ˆ aunt sue ˆ grandma
aunt sue, grandma
Did it in one breath!
cake ˆ laugh ˆ aunt sue ˆ grandma
aunt barb, aunt elaine, aunt sue, grandma, mom
Ann and her four daughters! Happy birthday, Grandma!
best ˆ birthday ˆ cake ˆ family ˆ aunt barb ˆ aunt elaine ˆ aunt sue ˆ grandma ˆ mom

Sunday, December 21st

aunt barb, aunt elaine, grandma, uncle wayne
Slept over at my parent's place on Saturday night and hung out with the family on Sunday.
family ˆ aunt barb ˆ aunt elaine ˆ grandma ˆ uncle wayne
aunt elaine, grandma, uncle wayne
Catching each other up on baby pics.
xmas tree ˆ aunt elaine ˆ grandma ˆ uncle wayne
maddy
View of the holiday table from my lap.
xmas ˆ maddy
maddy
Face-restin so hard.
sleepy ˆ maddy
aunt barb, dad, grandma, mom, uncle tom
Post-dinner coffee and chit-chat!
family ˆ xmas ˆ aunt barb ˆ dad ˆ grandma ˆ mom ˆ uncle tom

Monday, December 22nd

Had a tiny bit of work to do on Monday morning....
...had to try to fill out an OKR form (objectives and key results) for one of my employers.
computer ˆ flux capacity ˆ work
me
That Office Space feel. Is anyone even going to read this?
annoyed ˆ me
After finishing work, I wrote some music!
computer ˆ guitar ˆ home office ˆ piano

Tuesday, December 23rd

maddy
On Tuesday morning I took Maddy to the vet for a check-up! Healthy pup!
vet ˆ maddy

Wednesday, December 24th

On Wednesday morning I worked on the September 2012 Roundup. (See I'm always about 2.5 years late in posting these pics!)
computer ˆ ikad ˆ meta
Later, I got into one of the more-advanced Arduino projects that uses light-sensors with different colored-light filters.
DIY ˆ arduino
Here's a sneak peek at the code that lets your light-detector detect different colors of light!
code ˆ computer

Thursday, December 25th

maddy
Merry Christmas! Got up early and took Maddy for a holiday walk to the East River.
east river park ˆ paint ˆ tree ˆ maddy
maddy
A bunch of the elm trees are sick and they are spaypaint-marked for removal! Sad!
paint ˆ tree ˆ maddy
maddy
Squirrels! Come down here right now!
east river park ˆ jump ˆ shadow ˆ tree ˆ maddy
Had some holiday pancakes and read this fantastic book by Osho. I highly recommend it.

book
maddy
Took Maddy for a Christmas evening walk and spotted the chickens out in the garden.
chickens ˆ dogs ˆ xmas ˆ xmas lights ˆ maddy
maddy
Christmas Murder on her mind.
chickens ˆ dogs ˆ xmas ˆ xmas lights ˆ maddy
A little after 6pm, I left my lonely holiday apartment and headed out to Williamburg to see other humans! Hey, We open up in here!
sign ˆ xmas tree
Into the warm holiday bosom of Katie & Clayton's!
xmas
amanda, katie, siege
They've got a long-standing Christmas tradition of...
xmas ˆ amanda ˆ katie ˆ siege
...Chinese Feasting...
chinese food ˆ food
...and a movie! (What movie was this?)
goat ˆ movie
Thanks for having us all over!
xmas

Friday, December 26th

On Friday I spent more time going through my written diary notes and adding captions to September 2012 photos!
jeet
Had a holiday video-chat with this lovely who was out in London with her family. Love you, Gurj!
computer ˆ ichat ˆ jeet
maddy
Grimple!
maddy
andy, kristi, sarah, stacy
My cousines Kristie and Stacy were in town visiting! I took them to Lucy's and Sarah came and met us with Andy (who I hadn't seen in 5 years!)
lucys ˆ andy ˆ kristi ˆ sarah ˆ stacy

Saturday, December 27th

kristi, me, stacy
East Village sight-seeing!
family ˆ kristi ˆ me ˆ stacy
Organic Grill burns their logo into their veggie burgers now. Whaaa?
burger ˆ food

Sunday, December 28th

maddy
Lazy smash-faced Sunday
sleepy ˆ maddy
Later that afternoon, the Muse brain-sensing headband I ordered had arrived!
brain computer interface
me
I love me some brain-computer interfaces! You put it on, plug in some headphones...
brain computer interface ˆ e9th apt ˆ headphones ˆ living room ˆ me
maddy
...and then there's an audio-guided meditation session...
phone ˆ maddy
...and afterwards, you get to look at what your brain was doing throughout the session. After playing with these for years, the Muse has the best design and interface I've seen.
brain computer interface ˆ muse
They summarize how much time your brain spent in different states...
brain computer interface ˆ muse ˆ phone
...and have a fun way of trying to gamify the experience to get you to practice again.
brain computer interface ˆ muse ˆ phone

Monday, December 29th

maddy
sleepy ˆ maddy
Neat sunset.
clouds ˆ tompkins
Waited until it got dark to try out some new LED bulbs I'd ordered.
lights
Light was way to bright and harsh.
lights
Also got a Kasina Mind Machine that plays weird binaural music that's syncopated to a system of strobing LED lights. (Sort of fun to play around with but nothing too crazy).
kasina mind machine
jane anne, maddy
Jane came over and tried out the Muse! (Maddy watching her! Hahah)
brain computer interface ˆ muse ˆ jane anne ˆ maddy

Wednesday, December 31st

ellen, hans
On Wednesday evening I went over to Ellen & Hans' apartment to say goodbye to 2014!
new years eve ˆ ellen ˆ hans
Did I mention it was FONDUE New Years?
cheese ˆ fondue ˆ new years eve
They had the cherry water...
booze ˆ fondue ˆ new years eve
...and all the fixins!
fondue ˆ food ˆ new years eve
DUNK AWAY!
cheese ˆ fondue ˆ new years eve
karen
Getting ready to dunk!
fondue ˆ new years eve ˆ karen
hans
We somehow managed to not lapse into a cheese stupor...
new years eve ˆ hans
ellen, hans
...and before we knew it, we were watching the ball fall!
new years eve ˆ ellen ˆ hans
hans
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
champagne ˆ new years eve ˆ hans
hans, the dude
You made it, dog!
best ˆ dogs ˆ new years eve ˆ hans ˆ the dude
ellen, hans, the dude
We took turns passing around The Dude
ellen ˆ hans ˆ the dude
the dude
Haha.
dogs ˆ puppy ˆ the dude
the dude
Make sure you shake his face for good luck!
dogs ˆ puppy ˆ the dude
ellen, hans, karen
2015, let's do this!
new years eve ˆ ellen ˆ hans ˆ karen