Today, I'm spending a significant amount of time working through the tutorials for Unity. Unity is a game engine; that means it's a piece of software that helps with building games. Historically, I've pursued two main paths in both my hobbies and in my professional life: writing games "from scratch", and using these kinds of tools. They both have advantages and disadvantages. Over time, I've seen professional projects choose game engines about two-thirds of the time and to write from scratch one-third of the time, and that ratio seems to have stayed pretty constant over the years. Engines can be expensive and constricting, but they have one huge advantage: they greatly accelerate productivity up front. In an environment where changes are rapid and problems are easily dealt with, it's easy to prototype and be creative. It's not usually until the late stages of the project that the limitations of a particular engine become apparent. As an individual developer, it's so hard to marshal the resources to write a game from scratch that engines become almost a requirement. I've written more than one game from scratch from iOS, and while I enjoyed the experience, I found at the end of the day that it required more work and time than I had. So I'm looking forward to seeing what I can put together this time around with Unity!
Some days, you just want wine that comes in a box. That's all I got.
Today was Selection Day for Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue. That means it was our "final exam" to become trainees; we were told to expect a training hike which would be timed followed by...well, no idea. It was awesome. The weather held up, which for Portland this time of year means that it was still a bit chilly and overcast but not actually raining on us. We started out with a 6.5 mile training hike, which I finished third fastest of the whole group. But then we got on to the interesting stuff. I can’t talk about it too much because the details are supposed to be secret, but it was what you might imagine - a set of leadership, fitness and outdoors related activities related to, well, search and rescue. I had a great time, got to exercise my lungs both the physical and communication way, and generally just had an awesome time. Below is a picture of the two paving stones I was forced to add to my pack because it wasn’t heavy enough. :)
Woo hoo! Today I got out for an awesome long ride. I woke up in Bend at a hotel on the south side and rode up to Smith Rock State Park, outside Terrebonne. I wasn't sure how long it would be, it ended up being almost 60 miles round trip. The day started out sunny and warm but got a bit overcast and cold by the time I got up there. I tried to ride around SR but I only had my road bike tires so I got out of my league on the mountain bike tracks quickly and had to turn back. No bother, though; had a nice BLT at a diner in Terrebonne, saw a couple of guinea pigs, including one that raced me for a few hundred feet. Riding against the wind on the way back was a challenge, especially because I was on a time limit, having to get back to teach. All in all, an excellent day and a great training day for what's to come this summer! Speaking of which, I - as well as everyone with MS - would love your donation, no donation too small! $1, $5, $10 - it's all good; just adding names to the roster makes me feel good!
This is a long overdue post. Do you like music? Do you like really good music? Well then today is your lucky day. I may be a bit biased, but my younger brother Jason is the lead singer and general tour de force behind his SF electro-pop band, Great Highway. I've been to perhaps a dozen of their shows over the years, and I can honestly say they are really pretty rocking. It's been fun to watch them grow; from two people to 5, from one album to 3, and from a group with great studio talent to a great live band as well. The songs are intensely lyrical with a beat that reminds me, and others, of bands like Postal Service (unsurprising since that's some of Jason's favorite music) but with - in my opinion - more layering and even better poetic qualities. I still think their strength is in the studio and their recorded material. I would link to their reviews and their discography, but they have an awesome website that already did that for me, so just check it out there! http://takegreathighway.com. I can't wait until they go on a nationwide tour and become world famous!
So many important topics I could write about today. But none are more important than Wendy's Chili. As someone who often faces having to eat quickly and cheaply, I can think of no greater fast food product than this delicious concoction. Some say it's made from yesterday's hamburgers; I say, bring it on - what could be more suited to the purpose. Some question it's soupy nature; but soup, as we know, is good food. In this cold, wet climate, I find it nourishing for both the mouth and the soul. Replete with cheese and raw onions, it is both a taste adventure as well as a fairly nutritious (at least by fast food standards) addition to a healthy daily diet. And unique among its compatriots. I salute you, Wendy's Chili.
Yeah! Yaaaayyy! Woo hoo! I hear in Sweden you can file your taxes my text message (no kidding), but here in the US of A we do it the old-fashioned way, the way our grandfathers did it, the way Real Men do it - with piles of paper and phone calls and agonizing over the way to deduct depreciation on our cell phones.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
I’ve only been in a fight twice in my life; the real kind, with fists being thrown and all that. But I can tell you that, when it happens, a lot of things fade away. Whether the other person is white or black or asian, tall or short, a conservative or a liberal, when they start throwing punches, the only thing that’s really on your mind is to either dodge them as fast as you can or start throwing some of your own. Donald Trump is throwing punches, and he’s throwing them at America. And, just like the little runt at the bar, we all laughed at first; until we realized he was serious, and the punches started to land. And now, I don’t care if he’s a Republican or a Democrat or from outer space; he’s a bully, and a jerk, and I want him thrown out of the bar. Donald Trump is not a problem because he is a Republican. I’ve listened to Marco Rubio speak and I don’t agree with him, wouldn’t vote for him, but if he won, I’d shake his hand and say “good game”. Marco Rubio represents a genuine viewpoint; one I respect even as I respectfully disagree.
Donald Trump is not a viewpoint any more than a thrown punch is a viewpoint. He is just raw physical violence. His own expression is a big middle finger to the United States of America. Oddly, nothing has ever made me feel as patriotic as Donald Trump. Much in the way that you might criticize your brother in private, but you’d jump into the fray if anybody tried anything, I feel - for the first time in my life - compelled to throw my hat into the ring of politics, just to make sure that guy is a sideline to history. I don’t care anymore if it’s Hillary or Bernie or even Michael Bloomberg - it just cannot, cannot be Trump.
And it’s not because I’m afraid of the policies he would institute if he was president. I’m afraid of what the presidency would become. This is not a fictional TV show. We are not the West Wing, or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Donald Trump is not Zaphod Beeblebrox. This is real life. We laugh at other countries with ridiculous puppet dictators and goofballs in charge; now we might become one. I am afraid for the death of reasonable discourse. It worries me greatly that we are changing our decision-making process. You know, as sure as we sit here, that if he was to win - honestly, even if he came close but lost - we would see a bunch of idiot copycats, with no message except “I hate everything except you, dear voter.” I’m sure you have all heard the advice that, when you’re on a first date, or at a first business meeting, you should look at how the other person treats the waitstaff. People who are jerks are jerks all the time. They don’t turn it on and off. Donald Trump would be a jerk to other world leaders, to other Senators and Representatives. He would appoint jerks to his cabinet, and a jerk to the Supreme Court. Ideology aside, he surrounds himself with idiots. He is the Lance Armstrong of politics; there’s a veneer of respectability, but underneath it turns out all there is at the center is a coward and a bully. Except that the consequences are so much higher than a bike race.
The time will come, soon, when it will become obvious who the best challenger is to Trump’s idiotic rise. When that moment happens, it is absolutely incumbent on every free-thinking, right-thinking American to come together to support that person, and to educate people that we do not want a bully as President.
I admit it - there’s a moment, when I’m home, sitting warm in bed, when I really, really hate running in the cold and rain. Today was one of those cold, foggy, sprinkling days that Portland seems to have so much of in the winter, and it was really hard to get out of bed and get in my car. Standing around before the run, too - that’s no fun. I don’t like that kind of weather in general, but standing in it is just torture.
The results don’t lie, though: my body performs a ton better in that kind of weather. I think I overheat easily while running, and the cold weather becomes my best asset once I get started. I did almost 7 miles this morning on muddy trails, and it absolutely flew by. I got in the groove right from the get-go, and really hit my stride about mile 2 and 3. I remember looking at my watch for mile 4 and then it felt like just 2 minutes later I was at mile 5. Conversely, when I lived in Austin, I had a hell of a time running. Almost right away I would be gasping for breath. Every step was difficult; every half mile was agony.
I’m writing this down mostly so that, next time I’m lying in my bed wishing it was a bright sunny day, I remember how nice it will feel about mile 2. :)
There are three kinds of people who will read this blog. The first kind is just not terribly interested in my ride this summer, or in charity, or multiple sclerosis. That is absolutely and totally fine; please go on about your day. :) The second kind of person is already sold on the idea of donating to my ride but just hasn't gotten around to it or is too busy. For that person, I'll just leave this link here: http://tinyurl.com/AdamBikes, along with the comment that there's no time like the present. :)
For the third kind of person, they need to know a bit more about what I'm up to before they feel like they can contribute, and I totally understand; I would feel the same way. So here is a quick "Frequently Asked Questions" list:
Q: What exactly are you doing? A: On July 1, I - along with about 11 other people - am leaving by bicycle, from Virgina, to arrive exactly two months later, on August 1st, in San Francisco. We are going the whole way, 3800 miles, by bicycle.
Q: Why are you doing this for charity instead of just going for a ride? A: Good question; I could just ride my bike on my own. But I'd like the journey to have a bit more meaning, and Multiple Sclerosis is a very worthwhile cause - more on that below. Two years ago, I did ride on my own, and it was the trip of a lifetime - but this will be even more amazing because I can help others.
Q: How much are you raising and why? A: The goal is to raise $3800, one for each mile I will ride.
Q: 3800 dollars seems like a lot of money! Why so much? A: Of your contribution, about 55% of the funds will go straight towards the charity. The other 45% is paying for the logistics of the ride - the van that follows us with all our belongings, camp sites, camp food, and basic first aid support. (Believe me, it's not luxury accomodations; we try and save as much money as possible for the cause). $3800 is a nice round number because it's one dollar for each mile.
Q: Why Multiple Sclerosis? A: Two reasons, really. First is that I love cycling, and MS has a long-standing relationship with the cycling community. The second is that I, personally, love motion and fitness, and diseases like MS - which cripple the body while leaving the mind intact - are one of my personal nightmares and, I think, one of the next frontiers of disease. As an autoimmune disease, MS shares things in common with Cancer and AIDS as well, and the treatments are all related.
Q: I do kind of want to give you money for the charity, but - no offense - I don't want to pay for your bike ride. A: No offense taken! I understand. If you feel this way, please donate, and let me know that you did so, and that you "conscientiously object", so to speak. I will match your donation, as neccessary, to ensure that any money you donate is going straight to the cause, and not to my ride. Note: I'll only have to actually make donations like this if I end up raising more than 55% of the total, so these "matching donations" will happen at the end.
There are many things about today, and this trip, that I could write about. But years from now, what I will want to remember about today is that I got to see the Shillingtons; Ryan, Ame, and their three kids David, Azalea and Riker. And we had an awesome walk and a great meal at this Turkish restaurant called Istanbul Grill and their kids are doing really well and it was just particularly great to catch up with them. I thought it might be, that it would do my soul good to be around people I like who like me and to be around kids, and I was totally, totally right. It made me feel better about my life choices but also reaffirmed the path I'm on. And there's a chance I may see them again if I make my way back to Austin after my bike ride this summer! It was just really great to see them.
Yesterday was my first day on the job here in Dallas and, since I knew I was going to have to be here for 4 days, I decided that for lunch I would try and find something that I could eat for all 4 days. After an hour and a half, I went home defeated. I walked by at least 10 or 11 different hometown Mexican eateries of various sorts, a pupuseria, a couple of BBQ places, and one Chinese restaurant. Don't get me wrong; they all looked delicious. I finally ended up at the Chinese place where I got Chicken Chow Mein for $6, and it was really good. But it was also a big fat bomb. They wanted to give me a free egg roll, and I had to turn it down.
One thing I take for granted in Portland, and also took for granted in SF and in Austin, is access to plentiful healthy food, especially at restaurants. I'm not saying there aren't any Acai Bowls or Café Yumm in Dallas, but certainly what was easiest and most accessible was high-calorie food, mostly fried or covered in cheese. And that makes it so much harder to be healthy.
It's not often that you get to see the future. It's also not enough that you get to revisit the scene of a crime (metaphorically speaking), 15 years later. But that's what i got to do today. 10-15 years ago, I was in graduate school, studying computer graphics, and my advisor was super into this new thing called virtual reality. It wasn't exactly new, of course, the idea had been around, but we had this cool new hardware. It cost $20,000, had to be bolted into a giant room in the basement, had these big heavy cables, weighed so much that it made your neck hurt to wear it - but it was real! Virtually real! In the academic world, we all thought it was very cool. I built a tennis game where you could dance around to "hit" the ball back to an invisible tennis partner. But even for us, the novelty wore off. The headset worked off of magnetic fields, which meant that as you moved around the room, the concept of "up" kept shifting in a decidedly nauseating way. We tried to compensate, but it never worked quite right, and none of us could keep the thing on for more than about 5 minutes.
So, yeah, cool, but ahead of its time.
Fast forward to day: I have a new client working on a virtual reality installation for SXSW Interactive, a big conference in Austin. It's based on this thing called Steam VR and the Unreal Engine, and a piece of hardware called the HTC Vive. Don't worry, I hadn't heard of any of those things either. But suffice it to say: this thing is cool. Badass, even. I fired up this demo from Google called TiltBrush, and it just blew me away. It wasn't, really, any different from the things we were tinkering with 10 years ago - and yet in another way it was completely different. Because it actually worked. The headset was light enough to feel invisible, the resolution was high enough to make you feel like you were actually there. Walking around felt so natural that I kept bumping into chairs I couldn't see. And the "paintbrushes" - kind of like Wii controllers - were perfect and natural.
So, yeah - VR is still going to be a niche thing for a while, yet - but I don't think it will be too much longer before we all wonder how we ever did without it.
So yesterday, I didn't update the blog. It's not that nothing happened; it was a pretty busy day. I went out and volunteered for Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue. It was actually a kind of interesting day; I was the hypothermia victim so I had to pretend that I had really cold feet and shiver a lot and be cranky. Those who know me well will attest that this was not a difficult task. :)
I felt kind of bad that I hadn't updated the blog. I've only missed, I think, 3 days so far this year. I set myself a New Years Resolution, while I was in San Francisco, of blogging every day. I did that for lots of reasons, but I guess the same reason people make resolutions in general; the feeling that something is going to improve who you are as a person, and even more so, that doing something repeatedly, every day, is a win. I know this from working on meditation, that meditating a little bit every day is much more valuable than trying to meditate a lot, once in a while. Having a regular schedule for things is really important. Habits are so much more valuable than just one-off things. I'm not super sure why that is, but it's clear that it's true.
Today was tough; I really didn't feel much like blogging. I thought about a number of topics, but nothing jumped out at me. I had a really mediocre Banh Mi at the airport, and it reminded me of the awesome Banh Mi I used to have in Austin, for basically zero money. But that didn't seem like a full blog post. I played Oregon Trail for the first time in a while yesterday, but again, I wasn't sure that was really a full post. And I saw Deadpool with my friend Keith, so I could have posted a review (my review: it's pretty good, nothing earth changing, but fun, although I wish they'd spent more time on the action sequences and less on his backstory). What I finally realized is that any of those could be a post, and that blogging about anything was way better than not blogging. Can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
When I'm in Bend, I don't really know very many people here, but I still like to practice my climbing. There's a pretty good climbing gym in Bend, fortunately, called Bend Rock Gym, and even more fortuitously, they have a pretty significant investment in Auto-Belay systems. As I've mentioned before, there are a few basic styles of climbing. The style I do the most is called top roping, and it requires a partner to "belay" you up the wall - they manage the rope and make sure you're safe and lower you gently back down. Although many aspects of climbing are very tricky, it turns out that top roping, in a gym environment, is simple enough that you could imagine a machine doing it - and someone has created that machine, called an auto-belay. At its simplest, an auto belay is just a wound up length of a ribbon rope along with a winching mechanism that ensures that the rope can never travel through the winch at more than a very slow speed. That means that, as you crawl up the wall, the rope is retracting, and when you start to fall, it catches you and slowly lowers you. It's similar to one of those retractable phone charging cables. If that sounds vaguely terrifying, I can assure you that it is. :) The first time I had to leap off of the wall was a definite leap of faith. The upside though is that today I was at the gym for only about an hour and I on-sighted about 10 different routes, ranging 5.6-5.9. Of course, I vastly prefer regular old top roping when I can; it's way more fun to be social. But when you're alone, auto belays are huge for getting in some climbing practice.
In the meantime, enjoy Strong Bad.
Today I ran across some mementos of a time past, including a gear bag from a ride I did in April of 2006, called the MS 150. Back in those days, I rode my bike occasionally, often to work and back, but I hadn't yet developed the interest in really long rides that I have today. I fell in with a small group of coworkers that liked to go out and ride on the weekends, along with my ex-wife. When we heard about the MS 150, it seemed like a herculean task: ride 150 miles?!? Actually, it turned out to be more like 180. And it was great. I can still remember those rides. The heat, baking down on us on the ranches outside of Austin. The group start the second day, over 10,000 bikes all arranged in a group, a mile long along a road in La Grange, TX. I remember the camp we would stay in overnight between the two days, tents and sleeping bags laid out end to end as far as the eye could see to sleep under the stars. The local high school where we'd take a shower. The local Lions group, that would make 20,000 pancakes, using oil barrels to hold the butter and power drills to mix. What I remember most, though, was the comaraderie. Riding 15 miles to collapse on a grassy field with a granola bar and friends. Riding with Sarah, my ex, through the suburbs of Houston. The final approach into Austin, unexpectedly hilly. The glorious hamburger at the finish line. We did that ride 3 or 4 times, almost every year.
Back then, 180 miles seemed like an amazing accomplishment. Little did I know that someday I would sign up to ride 3800. And, back then, raising $300 for charity seemed impossible. Today, I face raising $3800. But I know I can do it with your help. Asking for money isn't easy for me. But what keeps me going is knowing that others can't ride. That sounds cheesy, I know, especially coming from me - but it's true.
So if you can, please give. Even a small donation helps; no donation is too small. I know there's lots of good causes for your money, but I'm saying that today, this cause is worth your time and attention.
Click the the bar above to donate, or at http://tinyurl.com/AdamBikes
I love food. I'm kind of like that guy from Diners and Dives on the Food Network. Give it to me local, plentiful, and delicious, and I'm happy. I have a soft spot for "food of the people". To me, food is memories. I can't eat a golabki without thinking of my grandmother's house, or my mom's cookies without thinking of Florida. And, for me, one of the best trips of my life is tied up forever with L&L Hawaiian Seafood. Many years ago, I went to Hawaii with my ex-wife. It was an amazing trip just across the board, filled with memories. But one in particular involves being in a small town on Oahu. We were taking a bus through the center of the island and had been let off for lunch, and we stopped in this tiny town and watched Navy men get their dry cleaning done. I had never had this kind of Hawaiian food; real food, heavy food, with Asian influences but uniquely Hawaiian. I fell in love with it and with the moment. Years later, I found myself in New York City - this was before Google Maps - down near Wall Street, and I turned the corner and, like a yellow mirage, there it was! I didn't know it existed outside of Hawaii. I was immediately transported back to the pineapple plantations, and ever since, I've sought out L&L anywhere I can find it. Today, it's going to be Spam Musubi, and a mini of Fried Mahi-Mahi. I can smell it already.
Today, I rode about 15 miles through the woods of Forest Park. It was a beautiful winter Portland day; a bit chilly and an awful lot muddy. The wind whipped through my helmet as I heard the shush-shush sound of tree trunks passing on either side.
When I am feeling down, nothing brings me back faster than the feeling of motion, whether it’s riding my bike, running, or cross country skiing. But for some of us, that right, that fundamental human right of motion has been taken away. There are many diseases that affect our ability to move, but one of the most insidious and common is Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, is an autoimmune disease that affects the myelin sheaths that surround our nerves. It causes difficulty with movement, can affect vision, and ultimately is completely debilitating. There is no known cure, but there are some promising treatments involving stem cell research. But those treatments are expensive and research is, too - which is where we come in.
This summer, I will be riding my bicycle 3800 miles across the United States, from Virginia to San Francisco, and I need your help. You can ride along with me by donating to my cause and to the cause of MS research. I’m sure you will have questions, and over the next few months, I’ll be striving to answer those questions, but for today I just wanted to announce my ride and get the basic information out there. If you’d like to donate, you can click on the link below: http://www.biketheusforms.org/cyclists/detail.asp?cid=864
I’ll be posting more about my ride over the coming days and weeks, but this blog will still have lots of other interesting daily tidbits on it as well, so never fear; it won’t take over!
Today my friend Sebastian and his girlfriend visited. He works in eSports and wanted to visit Ground Control here in Portland. Ground Control is a member of a dying breed: the full service video arcade. It’s old school. You can play Rampart, Joust, pinball machines, Dance Dance Revolution, X-Men, you name it. You can also get a drink and some tater tots. I’ll be honest; the arcade machine is an interesting phenomenon. Time has moved it by, in general. We enjoyed ourselves for an hour or so and then moved on. I’ll say this, though: the place was packed. And, interestingly, half female. I saw a lot of people on dates; how perfect is that! I want to go on a date there. And, hell, the drinks were cheap and strong and delicious, so, compared to a bar, it’s basically awesome. I miss arcades just like I miss being young, and if somebody wants to serve me some nostalgia, I’ll gladly buy!
