Night Showerer

"Ferrari never became a great driver. Nor was he an engineer or industrialist. Instead, he called..."

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:59:20 +0300

“Ferrari never became a great driver. Nor was he an engineer or industrialist. Instead, he called himself un agitatore di uomini. An agitator of men.”

- The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit

Maybe I shouldn’t have parroted all this stuff that I don’t understand over the years.

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:01:31 +0300

Maybe I shouldn’t have parroted all this stuff that I don’t understand over the years.

Idealism meets materialism. Via.

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 23:40:26 +0300

Idealism meets materialism. Via.

So, We Moved to Boston

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 23:51:34 +0300

It’s been about three months since we moved to Boston from Alabama (we stayed with my parents for awhile there when we moved from Kuwait).

Boston is great! There are so many things to do (like, really, really many things - so many it’s a little scary and I’m intimidated about what I should choose to do on a given weekend – but it’s a good problem).

However…

I miss travelling. It’s a little hard for me to admit (because I was so irritated at Kuwait during the last several months I lived there), but one huge thing living there taught me was a love of (international) travel. I feel like I haven’t travelled in awhile, and it’s only been three months since we moved to Boston. I really caught the travelling bug, and have an urge to travel out of the country soon.

Americans generally don’t travel that much (insert statistic about the percentage of the US population that has a passport), and I hope that I can keep with traveling and that my experience now has changed me for the better in this way.

No More Skiing

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 02:55:07 +0300

Skiing* is probably the thing that I’ve spent the most money on that has caused me the most physical pain and emotional scaring.

After I complained on Facebook about my most recent trip to go awkwardly glide and fall down a snow-covered hill, my friend astutely commented:

Skiing is easier to learn when you are a teenager and you learn by trying to keep up with your better skiier friends. Trying to learn when you are an adult is like paying good money to have someone kick your ass.

I’m done with it. No more skiing. Skiing, I hate you. I hate how you make me want to keep up with the cool kids in their colorful, $500 jackets speeding down the slopes. I hate how you leave my knees sore and my ass bruised for a week afterwards. I hate how you make my wife furious at me for forcing her through ski lessons she cares nothing about just so she can be as miserable as I am.

* And let’s not forget my excruciating attempt at snowboarding.

Five Awkward Alternative Titles for the Movie "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:48:34 +0300

Extremely Gentle & Incredibly Smooth
Irresistibly Charming & Surprisingly Affordable
Extremely Subtle & Incredibly Racist
Incredibly Relaxing & Extremely Non-toxic
Extremely Annoying & Incredibly Silent

Two Years of Traveling

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:00:05 +0300

I’ve lived in Kuwait for a little over two years now, and although I wouldn’t say it’s the greatest place to live, there’s no doubt it’s given me a chance to travel more internationally. I have been able to travel from Southeast Asia to India to Northern Europe. I’ve learned how to get tourist visas and become familiar with several regional airlines (Ryanair, you are one shrewd bastard).

Traveling has been a tremendous and eye-opening experience. Even though I’ve always had a desire to be exposed to different cultures and make international friends, I’m still an American from a small city. It was quite a stretch for me initially to become accustomed to traveling long distances even within the U.S., and these past two years have further broadened my perspective and increased my traveler’s prowess.

As I prepare to move back to the U.S., I hope I can continue to explore the world (and even my own country). I’m more aware of what it takes to travel: everything from what to pack, to the physical toll long plane flights and jet lag can take, to (of course) the money required.

I feel a stronger desire than ever to travel now, and the world seems both smaller (I’m more aware of geography) and more immense (I feel like there will never be enough time to see it all).

"At some point the one machine we have made, the continuous cloak of electronic neurons wrapped..."

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:39:32 +0300

“At some point the one machine we have made, the continuous cloak of electronic neurons wrapped around the globe, will produce some impulse, some emergent behavior, some new phenomenon that is evident to all did not arise with us, but came out of this gigantic web — and at that point many people will begin to see God in it.”

- The Technium: The Internet Is My Religion

theimpossiblecool: Coltrane, Queens, 1963. photo by Jim...

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 11:40:49 +0300

theimpossiblecool:

Coltrane, Queens, 1963.

photo by Jim Marshall

I just discovered Bon Iver. Via cubicle17

Thu, 26 May 2011 20:16:00 +0300

I just discovered Bon Iver.

Via cubicle17

"The United States Military (Waterhouse has decided) is first and foremost an unfathomable network of..."

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 19:00:06 +0300

“The United States Military (Waterhouse has decided) is first and foremost an unfathomable network of typists and file clerks, secondarily a stupendous mechanism for moving stuff from one part of the world to another, and last and least a fighting organization.”

- Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon

Don't Beat Yourself

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:05:57 +0300

Don't Beat Yourself:

Andy Ihnatko on a great scene from one of my favorite movies, The Hustler. A reminder to take a walk, wash your face, have a snack, or do whatever’s needed to get your head straight and don’t beat yourself.

Seth Godin On Flipping a Coin

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:47:20 +0300

Seth Godin On Flipping a Coin:

By refusing to lie to yourself, by not telling yourself a fable to make the decision easier, you’ll understand quite clearly when you’re winging it.

This postcard is my favorite souvenir from our trip to Borneo.

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:52:00 +0300

This postcard is my favorite souvenir from our trip to Borneo.

3?

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:14:52 +0300

Kevin Kelley on Art

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:18:46 +0300

Kevin Kelley on Art:

Kevin Kelley, reflecting on art and making a tacky wreath made out of cheap toys with his kid:

It made us giggle at times. The thing is completely useless. But it evoked something vague when we hung it outside my studio door. It’s pleasing in a strange way. Looks like art to me.

I love reading Kevin Kelley’s posts for his seemingly endless supply of genuine curiosity.

Stockholm, Wedding Song

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:30:00 +0300

In honor of the upcoming trip to Stockholm for the 2011 Dynamic Languages Conferece (and… let’s be real, a chance to escape Kuwait for awhile and do some sightseeing), here are three songs:

Lykke Li - Little Bit

The first, from Swedish indie singer Lykke Li (who just released a pretty damn good follow up album).

The Knife - Heartbeats

The second, from a masked, electro-pop duo from Stockholm.

Jose Gonzalez - Hearbeats

And the third, Jose Gonzalez working his magic (as he often does) on a cover of the above song.

My wife and I danced to this for the first song at our wedding.

I stumbled upon this recording the other day of my friend Roman...

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:12:00 +0300

I stumbled upon this recording the other day of my friend Roman helping me learn my marriage proposal speech in 2006.

I surprised my wife by proposing on a trip to her home in Uzbekistan in front of her parents, who are native Russian speakers. Before going, I had Roman (originally from Moscow) help me translate and learn to pronounce in Russian a little speech I had prepared for the proposal.

Translation:

Excuse me - I have something to announce.

I love your daughter very much. She is the most beautiful, smartest, and lovely girl. We have been dating for 2 years, and I can’t imagine my life without Jamila. I ask for her hand in marriage, and for your blessing.

Jamila, please be my wife.

I keep watching the scene in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless...

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:40:46 +0300

I keep watching the scene in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (starting at about 1:16 in) where Mary and Howard are left alone to work on erasing Joel’s memories, and Mary speaks the following quote (from which the movie gets its title):

How happy is the blameless Vestal’s lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d. - Alexander Pope

Little Little Italy (cutesy ride at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi)

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:07:34 +0300

Little Little Italy (cutesy ride at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi)