So Here We Are…

A buddy at work sent this out.  It’s funny, but also…well, something else.

Here’s to American ingenuity.  Cheers…

New Toy

After years of hand-me-down vehicles for cheap from my parents, I finally bought one that I wanted.  Kate and I picked up a VW Vanagon on Monday down in Portland.  Here are some photos the previous owner took recently:

Photos

After I do some work to it, I’ll post some more photos.

This thing is screaming for a road trip, or at least some good skiing.  Anytime you guys want to get away for a while, just let me know.

I hope all is well.  Oh, and by the way, just to get get a spark, I have 2 words for you guys –

bachelor parties.

Style/design??

The Ideas on Ideas blog had an interesting posting about what design is, as contrasted with style. Pretty interesting piece overall. What I think is fascinating is the author’s focus on a design process that has consistently meaningful results. He writes:

The challenge here is that as we are bombarded by these styles, designers, by their own accord and that of their clients and peers, gravitate towards reiterating whatever the style-du-jour happens to be. (Think of the swoosh logos of the late 1990s.) It’s easy to do, the pay-off is immediate, and for a short while, one’s portfolio seems deceptively strong. Most times though, this work is void of the research, strategy, and logic that are necessary to do something effective. As a result, it’s in fact a big pile of shiny bullshit.

So even if your end product is an effective design, if your design process is not robust, your success was just luck. Not sure if I agree, but it’s something to think about.

Link

Conan vs. Colbert vs. Stewart

Since the writer’s strike, I’ve been hooked on watching Conan slowly unravel as he does his show without writers. He’s had an ongoing talk show feud with Stephen Colbert over who made Mike Huckabee popular. It’s expanded over the past week or so to include John Stewart. Then, last night both Colbert and Stewart came on Conan’s show to stage a fight over who actually made Huckabee. A good time was had by all.

Today, the NYTimes had an interview with Conan about the feud over Huckabee. The article ends with this quote from Conan: “It certainly helped that all three of us are in a period of our careers where we’re looking for content.”

Amazing. I highly recommend watching Conan; he’s waaaay funnier without writers and is slowly losing his mind on broadcast television.

Response to the Dem’s Response to the State of the Union

Some quick thoughts about our fearless leader’s State of the Union address last night and the Democrat’s response:

1. President Bush mentioned a plan to let people in the armed forces transfer any education benefits to their spouse or children. Sounds like a great step in the right direction. You know, treat our soldiers like human beings with benefits like any other career. If only they could work out that whole healthcare thing.
2. Gov. Sebelius’ response to the Pres’ speech had this interesting line about green development: “But more than just recover, the Kansans who live in Greensburg are building green, rebuilding a better community for their children and grandchildren; making shared sacrifices and investments for the next generation.” Why does everyone think being “green” and “environmentally friendly”necessarily comes with sacrifices? How come no one talks about being green as a means to become economically viable instead of a hindrance to our activities? No wonder getting Congress to enact environmental policies has proved largely futile; whenever someone mentions the environment, it’s in the context of limiting or sacrificing what we have.
3. Another quote from Sebelius: “The last five years have cost us dearly in lives lost, in thousands of wounded warriors whose futures may never be the same, in challenges not met here at home because our resources were committed elsewhere. America’s foreign policy has left us with fewer allies and more enemies.” What? Spending $500 Billion on the military means there’s less money to go around?! I don’t get it. How come people don’t like our foreign policy? Is it because they were disappointed the surge wasn’t an energy drink?

Comments?

Good times, good times

Alex has finally continued on his way, leaving Portland behind in a flurry of dust and stalls.

Man, it sucks we’re all so far apart. I vote for moving to San Diego and starting the next great American car company. You know you want to 🙂

Tonight I think I might drink some PBR and watch the Big Lebowski; hopefully not freaking Sara out if I cry myself to sleep… You’re being very undude.

Ted Nordhaus: Rethinking environmentalism

On Tuesday, I attended a talk at Powell’s by Ted Nordhaus, an author and long-time environmentalist. I recently read an article about him and co-author Michael Shellenberger in Wired that piqued my interest in their book “Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility“.

Ted’s main idea is that the current efforts of the environmentalist movement are unrealistic in their expectations and ineffective in their long-term goals. By fighting lots of little battles (cutting car emissions, capping carbon output, reducing consumerism), the movement has lost sight of the bigger picture. Without large scale, systemic change, we might be able to slow the destroying of our planet, but not prevent its untimely demise.

He pointed out that the solution of cutting back to save the environment is an appeal by the middle/upper classes of developed nations to others in a similar socioeconomic class. It’s easier to convince middle class families in Oregon to pay a slight premium for wind power than to convince a rural village in China to not build a coal power plant. Both would have similar impacts on carbon emissions, but only one would result in being left behind without electricity. It’s not that the Chinese villagers don’t care about the environment; their priorities are more centered around immediate survival and economic development.

The solution: a massive development effort to bring down the cost of alternative energy sources to a level that will compete with traditional sources. Until the price of solar/wind/nuclear/hydroelectic/geothermal power is competitive with coal, developing nations such as India and China simply aren’t going to “go green”.

There’s a lot more Ted said in his talk that I’d like to share, so I’ll continue to post while I read the book. Also, I recorded the talk, but don’t know of a good way to share it. Any ideas?

Happy Bday (yesterday) Jeff!

Happy Birthday to the best phantom suite mate ever!

Greetings Internets!

This is a place for us to mostly stay in touch with each other and possibly bounce ideas around. See, we were all fortunate enough to go to Olin College and were treated like C-level execs for four years. Now that the Olin bubble has burst, it’s time to cope with being entry level engineers, grad school lackeys, and the like.