Goleta to Alaska to Palo Alto

So begins summer 2009...

Cabin time is relaxing and really a great way to consider life. Note the coffee press, it is wonderful to have great coffee no matter where you are.

Arriving at Mulcahy View Cabin and the Float Plane we flew in.

The Island.

and....

We flew on the Salmon Thirty Salmon. There was even a mechanical problem which meant we landed in Kodiak with every fire engine on the island present.

I finally got back to life yesterday, after unpacking most of the boxes I began to play with some ideas I had had on various projects. No results yet, but it is nice to be back at work. I went over to University Ave in our new home, Palo Alto, in order to get a hair cut. Now I knew that it would be hard to top the barber shop that I had been going to in Old Town Goleta, but even so, I was blown away. I ended up getting a hair cut and a lecture from the barber (an x body builder whose main aspiration had been to be a Greek God) about the fact that hair is dead and the cut that I asked for was not going to work. So e proceeded to give me an average (I mean I could have gone to some chain and got this cut) for $20. This seems a bit steep when I compare it to the cut I used to get in Old Town, where they cut as I asked (and it worked) and they finished it off with a straight razor around the edges.

This all got me thinking about careers and aspirations. The guy who cut my hair here in Palo Alto (who lives in San Jose) is your run of the mill person existing by meeting the minimum requirements and never aspiring to really pursue a dream. (well maybe he had a dream, but it certainly wasn't evident). I began to consider how he has likely wandered through life never going to hard after any one thing and happy to keep existing. I started to contrast this perception of him, after all I am only projecting and hypothesizing, with my own way of life. I think I have been fortunate to encounter people during my lifetime thus far who have challenged me to dream and to achieve those dreams. Each time I reach a new level of success (such as my recent passing of my qualifying exams) I begin to notice the infinite new realm of possible goals and possibilities. Being ABD, this has meant new library privileges, it doesn't get much better than that! Oh and I am living some place where they are broadcasting a Long Now lecture on public radio!

In a related realization, it is summer! Funny, but being in Alaska for a couple weeks and yes it was amazing, I had lost touch with time and place. Add to that detachment the fact that we moved 4 days before leaving and returned to a house of boxes and piles of our belongings. So today, I spent the afternoon unpacking some more and hanging pictures on the Alaska Wall (sorry the picture sucks, built in camera on the computer) while listening to NPR. They sort of hinted all day about a holiday, turns out July 4th is in 2 days, it took a long time to register! So, in honor of summer I made Cole Slaw today and that helped me to confirm that summer is really here.

Also, I just saw this video on a paint on conductive material. Seems like an interesting idea, although I can see in some of the pictures that it does crack as it dries, but still, it could be quite fabulous.


Also one of the comments notes ...
if you all want to try this yourself its fundamentally carbon black (get it from paint shops) and liquid latex super loaded so the carbon forms a conductive path.
There you have it DIY.