First Snow

Some pictures of our the first snowstorm this winter from twelve floors up.

Milwaukee's Best in 48 Hrs

Lake Michigan, we've missed your shores.

When in Milwaukee, the only place to stop for coffee.

A little Third Ward action.

The best burger in MKE, with a tall boy? Yes, please.

Post burger trip to Kopp's Frozen Custard. The best custard around.

Our View

We can now enjoy it a little more since Jarrod bought our grill. Thanks!

Triple Threat

Katelyn Sellers Hoge

8 lbs. 7 oz. 21"

11 October 2011 4:35pm

I am thrice an uncle. 

Steve Jobs' Passing

Steve Jobs did the impossible. He got me to work in a mall. I only lasted 10 months, but that’s ten more months than I ever thought I would be working in a mall. His passing somehow brought me a greater sense of pride that I was part of the company than working in the store actually did. I was truly saddened last night. I think everyone expected his death, but not so soon, not five weeks after he stepped down.

I have been struck by the magnitude of his death. From President Obama releasing a statement last night to floral tributes outside Apple stores, most tributes have been appropriate, but others have been cringe inducing. Jobs oversaw every detail of his company and intimately cared about each product the company produced. What current CEO does that? Not a one. However, he was no MLK, Jr., a comparison I heard last night that made me spit up my milk and cookies all over my MacBook Pro. Coincidentally, I had watched MLK, Jr.’s anti-Vietnam speech earlier in a class yesterday, reinforcing the point that his impact on intellectual thought, humanity, freedom, and rights is immeasurable and never was anyone so damn eloquent in bringing that about.

Nevertheless, as I sit here, studying (which I really should be doing right now) I see a few iPads, many iPhones, an 11-inch MacBook Air, and a handful of other MacBooks. Jobs’ influence is everywhere and it’s stunning that in a person’s absence we are more acutely aware of their legacy and we immediately yearn for their presence more than we ever did when they were alive. And that is why death hurts so much.

Godspeed, Steve.

Tributes

Apple's homepage has a nice tribute to Steve Jobs. It will probably change soon so go check it out. 

Even wired.com is all black tonight.

Living in the Future

If you didn't visit a news website,  listen to NPR, or watch TV today, you might not know that Apple announced its iPhone 4S today. It includes Siri, which is, at it's simplest an assistant you can talk to. Just read this from Gizmodo. It sort of blows my mind. It's crazy actually. Sci-fi movies are slowly becoming reality. 

This thing actually seems smart, judging by the demos. It actually interprets what you are saying. You don't talk to it using commands. You just talk to it like you would talk to another person. So instead of asking "tell me the weather today" you can just say "Do I need a raincoat?" and it will reply "It sure does look like rain today!" Or if you say "Wake me up tomorrow at 6am" it will automatically set up the alarm for you. Or "hey, remind me to buy milk later" and it will remind you to buy milk as you pass near a grocery store—yes, Siri is location aware.

A Sober Reminder of Where Your iPhone Comes From

Read this.


Look at this.


It's worth mentioning, this is essentially where all electronic gadgets come from. Like the guy in the Times piece says, this is what happens when you outsource to a fascist country with no human rights.

100 Million Degrees

I have been reading a fairly dense history of U.S. foreign policy over the last two weeks. Ahead of each chapter, there is a quote, which relates to the topic of the chapter, but may not be found within. The lead quote for the chapter on the Pacific front of WWII was powerful. It paints a picture that is impossible to imagine. 

When the first atomic bomb went off, at Alamorgordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, the temperature at Ground Zero was 100 million degrees Fahrenheit, three times hotter than the interior of the sun and ten thousand times the heat on its surface. All life, plant and animal, within a mile radius of Ground Zero simply vanished. General Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, turned to his deputy and said, "The war's over. One of two of these things and Japan will be finished."
- Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, Enola Gay

Boom

Apple sent this out to media outlets today. It's coming. October 4th. Whatever it is, it's coming.

Iced Coffee

My new best friend in grad school.

Such Foresight

From my reading this weekend, a quote from President Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address. He warns of the influence of the military-industrial complex:

The conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence--economic, political, even spiritual--is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government...We must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, our resources and livelihood all are involved; so is the very structure of our society. 

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.  

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

Eisenhower would be very disappointed with the present-day saturation of our government by the military-industrial complex. Nevertheless, this is an astounding prediction. Thanks for blowing my mind, Dwight.

Clean Glass

The windows of my home were cleaned today by this guy.

Speechless

An amazing picture from 9/11 that I hadn't seen.

Remembering 9/11, Again

My thoughts after reading through the 9.11.11 New York Times.

The dominant themes of the paper this morning seem to be: 

1) It’s been ten years. Let’s make this the last big memorial and then let’s move on. Again, it’s been ten years. How long do we have to do this? 

And 2) Beginning September 12, 2001, America started down a path that has brought us unnecessary, prolonged wars in countries that are now more unstable than they were in 2001. In addition, anti-Americanism has flourished in a lot of the Middle East, which, in turn, hasn’t made it a safer world for anyone despite the homeland not being attacked in the last ten years.

And, on this 10^th anniversary, I have found, not a new respect for, but a renewed respect for President Bush. This is simply a respect for the President of the United States of America. Being the president on that day and in the following weeks must have been an unimaginable burden and one Bush least expected to bear and one I am sure he will deal with for the rest of his life. As it turned out, I don’t agree with most of Bush’s reactions to 9/11, but I think we can all appreciate his stoicism on that day, his visit to the WTC site, and his speech from the rubble while he had his arm around a NYC Firefighter. 

With my breaks today from reading for grad school, I will be reading more of the Times and special editions of Time and The New Yorker that sit on my coffee table. I won't be watching much TV because the visual remembrance of 9/11 is the same every year because it can offer nothing new. Meaning, the images can't evolve like our reflections on that day can and so I think the best medium to reflect upon this day is, undoubtedly, the written word. 

Listening to 9/11 Unfold

The media is saturated with 10th anniversary 9/11 stuff right now and it is hard to make your way through it just to find one genuine piece of journalism. However, this morning I went to nytimes.com and they had posted, and made available to listen to, a bunch of transmissions from 9/11 as it happened. I listened to the first one and I was riveted by what I heard. I stayed in my seat until the last tape was done, the one in which the order is given to shoot down any planes if they are not responding to directions, but by that time, as we know, all four planes had crashed. 


The tapes are worth a listen.

The New Whip

My mother-in-law bought her dream car last weekend. Apparently, she has wanted a convertible for 30+ years and on Saturday in Fort Collins whatever separated her from actually buying a convertible came crashing down in a big way. 

I have to say, her choice was excellent because I can sort of fit in this vehicle (front row only) and it is fun to drive (she let Kate and I take it out for a little spin in Laramie on Sunday). I know it's the first convertible I have ever driven (really good visibility in this thing) and maybe it will be the last, who knows? I just don't see myself getting one any time soon nor in the distant future. For now, it is a little fun to actually know I can ride in one when I want (at least 3 months out of the year in Wyoming).

2011 Volvo C70

Charleston Wedding: Saturday and Sunday

Irene killed a lot of starfish. Damn her. 

Horseshoe Crab. Dead. Missing two legs. Huge, scary looking creature.

The plaque in front of this tree (the Magnolia Plantation oak) reads: Though its age cannot be determined by boring, it was referred to as a "large oak" in the earliest days of this 300 year old plantation. Because fires were built in its interior by early plantation workers, [they mean slaves, my addition here] this tree has been completely hollow for more than a century, and its growth thus retarded. However, measuring over 30 feet in circumference, it remains one of America's largest specimens of live oak. (Quercus Virginiania)

It bothered me that they used the wording "early plantation workers" on the plaque. Why don't you just call them what they were? There's no sugarcoating that era and when I ran into even a hint of it in the South it really made me miss Colorado.

Once again, the oak. 

And its large, old arms.

Amazingly, I hadn't sweat through the front of my dress shirt at this point, but I was well on my way. This, I believe, was taken as Courtney walked in. 

Frank. Isle of Palms. Riding his bike he brought down from Jersey.

Frank on his way back.

Sunday. Irene gone. Pleasant coastline and dunes.

All So F*#@&!

The thing about sitting in the exit row, besides the legroom, is the briefing one gets before the plane takes off. “Are you willing and able to assist in case of an emergency? I need an audible yes,” the flight attendant says. Of course I say yes, hell yes (I am not losing this seat), but I am lying because somewhere in their speech about exit row responsibilities they told me I would stand on the wing and assist others out of the plane.

In case of an emergency, in case I am actually alive after the plane crashes, I am willing and able to rip the 40 lb. door off the plane and throw it out. I will be willing and able to get all of those friends and family members I am travelling with out of the plane too. But after that, to expect me to stand on a wing full of fuel ready to blow is insane. Whenever the flight attendant reaches this point of their speech, I can only think, nobody is going to do that, nobody is going to be that calm. It’s comical and I might even laugh or let a smile flash across my face. The serenity the flight crew and the airline’s safety publication try to bring to the situation is comical.

Another responsibility of those fortunate enough to sit in the exit row is that we get to determine if the exit is safe and if it isn’t we are supposed to stand there with our arms crossed on our chest like we are going down a water slide and say, “This exit’s blocked.” We are supposed to say this over and over again and point in the right direction to exit the plane. It is much easier for me to imagine someone standing at the exit in this situation and saying, “We are all fucked. We are all so fucked,” than it is for me to see it going the way the flight attendant so lightheartedly describes it. 

Charleston Wedding - Thursday and Friday

Orange glow of Sunset meets the hint of Irene. (I am really digging Blogger's new format options with photos. These are huge now.)

On the horizon, way out to the left, you can see some of the big clouds, representing Irene's outer bands. 

Same night: Thursday. I am a sucker for sunset pictures.

Irene and her dirty waves hit the South Carolina coast.

A picture of the wedding photographer, Jarrod.

More of Irene's dirty ways, I mean, waves.

Collin meets Irene.

Why not hand my camera off to a pro for a few seconds? Thanks, JROD.

The scene from the rehearsal dinner. Beautiful. Another amazing sunset with a full rainbow too, but I found the waves mesmerizing.

This guy kept walking around as if he was going to go in. I watched him for a while. He never did. I can't say I blame him. Look at him, he's in knee deep water where there isn't supposed to be any. 

Also from rehearsal dinner site. Not a bad spot.