Father's Day Weekend in Converse

OK, there's not a lot of pictures of the dads...let's just assume that's because they were napping.

Trying something new

For the past year, I've maintained a site hosted by godaddy.com and a blog at WordPress. Right now I'm trying something new. I have redirected everything to blogger. This post is to test my RSS feed.

Update: I got it connected, on the second try. If you saw the first post, it probably had a bad link that should be fixed.

Update 2: Sorry for all of the new posts in your feed. I'll explain more later, but I just moved everything from WordPress to Blogger.

Mother's Day Weekend

Here are a few shots from a recent trip to the bay area with my parents. Along with meeting the in-laws, we covered a lot of sights in 6 days. In the album, you'll find Telegraph Hill, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Twin Peaks, Alcatraz, Berkley, Oakland, and Napa.

More Memory for the MacBook Pro

I don’t think I really needed it, but for $62 delivered from Amazon I couldn’t resist upgrading from 2GB to 4GB. Sure, Apple sells the 2 X 2GB SIMMS for $300, but Crucial, Kingston, and even Samsung offer the same chips for far less. Think of computer memory like gas for your car (if you have a car). As long as you are looking at the same quantity and grade, you’re putting the right stuff in. My only suggestion is to stick with a name brand.

Installation is a snap

Apple is nice enough to include simple instructions online, even if you buy your memory from someone else. If you want a second opinion, see my steps and tips below. It took more time to get the new memory out of the package than it did to install it.

Here are the simple steps that anyone should feel comfortable following. I have a MacBook Pro 15″ 2.6 GHz Core Duo 2, but these steps are generally the same for most MacBooks.

1. Power down the notebook and unplug anything that may be attached.
2. Remove the battery–if it’s hot, wait 10 minutes.
3. Touch something metal in the battery cavity to ground yourself.
4. Near the center of the MacBook, there are 3 small screws and a plate covering the memory. Remove the screws and cover.
5. The memory is rectangular in shape. It is clipped in on the short sides. Gently spread the clips, and the memory will pop up.
6. Slide the memory out, noticing the angle because you will insert the replacement chip at the same angle.
7. Set the chip down near the socket without changing its orientation. This helps you remember which way the replacement chip needs to be inserted.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 for the second chip (if you have one).
9. Insert the replacements gently, but firmly. If you know you have the notches in the right place, you should be comfortable applying some pressure as you insert the chip. Push in at the angle you pulled in step 6, then press down and it will snap right in.
10. With both chip installed, replace the cover, screws, and battery.
11. Turn it on and go to About This Mac to confirm you job is complete.
12. If you don’t see GB you expected, go to More Info. Click Memory, and see if both banks are registering. Chances are that you didn’t get the chip deep enough in the socket–an easy problem to remedy by taking the chip out and reinserting it.

That’s All

I removed 2 X 1GM Samsung chips (let me know if you want them) and installed 2 X 2GB Kingston chips. You can do it, too! Now, I’m looking forward to even faster video editing and 3D design.

Start Documenting Ideas with a Sharpie

There is no doubt that the economy is hurt and we’re facing a lot of uncertainty. Being in New York City, I have personal connections to a lot of highly skilled people who have lost their jobs, and a lot of seemingly stable companies that are struggling. To help me get through the chaos, I have been exploring topics that interest me, meeting new people, and learning about myself.

Lecture: From Sketching to Experience

The School of Visual Arts MFA in Interaction Design program is running a monthly lecture series to build awareness around their new curriculum. The lectures are free, and held at a bar downtown. The first event focused less on sketching as a traditional concept, but rather on the best ways to transition ideas from your brain to a tangible product. One phrase that stuck with me is “you don’t start designing in pixels.” In other words, don’t start a project with precision. Start documenting ideas with a fat Sharpie, iterate and refine until you are ready to lay to out on a computer, build a prototype, or shoot film.

While all four lectures were fantastic and motivational, two have stuck with me. Tom Bodkin, design director for the New York Times, shared the story of creating the historic November 5th NYT cover with our new president elect, Barack Obama. He explained how the front page evolves from a few boxes and scribbles on the corner of a piece of white paper to a custom NYT front page graph paper. It’s a rapid process of testing what makes sense to Tom, and gaining agreement from the news directors fighting for space. At the end of his talk, Tom gave everyone a copy of the November 14th front page layout, hours before it went to press.

Andrew Sloat is a graphic designed and videomaker (not to mention a drainage ditch). He studied dance as an undergraduate, and spoke about how he creates videos. Look for “A More Perfect Union” on his website to see the final product of what started as a young boy’s passion to decode secret messages. Andrew took the letters of the Preamble to the United States Constitution, mapped out the mechanics of shuffling the letters to words and phrases, and executed a video that evokes a strong sense of pride and hope.

Lecture: “The Interviewers,” December 8

Don’t miss the next lecture. Register on the SVA site, meet some new people, and think about new approaching daily tasks.

An AMAZING Night

Tom Rutkowski Interview for Judge

Vote for Tom Rutkowski: 2008 Candidate for Judge, LaPorte County, Indiana Superior Court No. 2.

Mac Switcher Tip: Why does DNS matter?

I’m coming up on 3 months with my new MacBook Pro and I’ve been extremely happy with the simplicity and consistency of the experience. I still use a ThinkPad running XP at work, and have an XP desktop at home, but the MacBook is my machine of choice. I have, however, struggled with some Internet connection issues.

From Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cliph/

First, my router would occasionally stop resolving domain names. I could ping an IP address directly, but could not load a web page. Ultimately, I blamed my 5(?) year old Belkin router because the problem went away when I switched to an old DLINK router.

Second, and even more annoying, my MacBook was slow opening web pages and downloading anything from the Internet. I performed my own non-scientific speed test by trying to simultaneously load nyt.com on my MacBook and ThinkPad. The ThinkPad was all done within 3 seconds, and the MacBook took 14 seconds to finish opening loading the last image. Huge difference!

I searched and found several people with the same issue, and the same solution. Switching my DNS to OpenDNS solved the problem. Now, my MacBook loads pages almost as fast as my Windows machines…but I have no real understanding why.

Gothamist: Federal Honors for Tenement Museum

I have been to the Tenement Museum twice, and recomended it to several friends. It’s a fantastic place to see and hear how immigrants lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I highly recomend taking a tour, especially if your family came to America through New York.

Earlier this month, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum was one of ten museums and libraries awarded the 2008 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the country’s “highest honor for institutions that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities.” The Institute of Museum and Library Services honors these institutions for “reach[ing] out to people of all ages and backgrounds and invite them to explore our wonderfully diverse history, culture, and literature.”

via Gothamist: Federal Honors for Tenement Museum

Visiting Cooper-Hewitt

Last weekend, I visited the Frick and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. There were a couple portraits that I immediately connected with at the Frick, but it took me a little longer to appreciate the exhibits at Cooper-Hewitt.

The current exhibition on the first floor is called House Proud. It includes magnificently detailed watercolors of 19th century homes–snapshots of family homes without the families. It feels a little like you’re flipping through real estate ads, looking at images staged to invoke strong and personal feelings.

On the second floor, there is a prototype for affordable housing being built in China. In stark contrast to many of the paintings on the first floor, the example of high-density urban living seemed extremely cold. After seeing the 19th century homes, the 450 square foot footprint for a family of four was difficult to appreciate.

I’ve thought about the two exhibits several times over the past week, and I’m beginning to appreciate the similarities of the two exhibits. Both depict the intimacy of family life, as well as the integration with community. In the watercolors, community is brought into the family home with grand spaces designed for entertaining. The Chinese sense of community comes through in shared space. More than 200 dorm-like apartments share common areas for eating, relaxing, and hosting guests.

I have lived in cities and dorms for much of my life, and it’s impressive that the watercolors took me so deep into the 19th century that I temporarily lost my connection to urban life.